Welcome to Artful Weekend, our guide to fun and interesting ways to enjoy and engage in art as you shelter-in-place or practice social distancing.
This weekend: Area IRL exhibits, a Keith Haring documentary, Dark Park sculpture’s shadow play, and more!
Opening Ceremonies
“Purple Datura” by Amy Lamb
The National Museum of Women in the Arts opens Saturday, August 1, albeit with special hours, timed admission tickets and a few other measures to keep visitors safe. Coinciding with their reopening is Return to Nature, a collection of 20 photographs by 11 artists from NMWA’s collection inspired by our collective urge to return outside after a period of hibernation; on view through October 11, 1250 New York Avenue, NW.
“Angel Trumpet (Brugmansia species)” by Marsha Ogden
Toxic—and intoxicatingly beautiful—flowers, berries, and fruit are the subject of this exhibition of watercolor paintings and drawings by members of the Botanical Art Society of the National Capital Region. See it online or in person through September 6 at Athenaeum Gallery, 201 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA.
Drawing the Line: A Portrait of Keith Haring
Keith Haring at work.
Keith Haring’s dancing figures, “radiant baby”, dogs, and bold squiggles—appeared playful but he used them as symbols to deliver messages on AIDS awareness, apartheid, drug abuse, homophobia, racism, and other hot-button issues of the 1980s. Drawing the Line: A Portrait of Keith Haringexplores his life and evolution from graffiti artist to pop art wunderkind.
Shadow Act
Dark Park sculpture by Nancy Holt
Every August 1, morning sunlight hits the enormous concrete orbs in Arlington’s Dark Sphere Park and forms a stunning mergence of shadows that occurs just once a year. Head over this Saturday by 9:32 and witness this phenomena for yourself, then linger and enjoy Arlington’s first commissioned public art piece by famed artist Nancy Holt; 1655 North Fort Myer Drive, Arlington, VA
Even during difficult times, creativity persists. Throughout this period of social distancing, we will begin our listing with opportunities that uniquely address the coronavirus pandemic—be they calls for art that specifically speaks to it, or virtual exhibits that are cropping up as a result of it. Some have definitive deadlines and others are more flexible, so be sure to check guidelines carefully. We encourage you to share these and other opportunities with your creative circle.
Opportunities in Response to COVID-19
Athenaeum Call For Entries for A Very Weird Time
Deadline: August 14 Artists are invited to submit works that represent the full gamut of how the global coronavirus pandemic and its associated social distancing has affected them. Fear, uncertainty, anger and doubt are certainly typical responses but we are also interested in evidence of the creative benefits of solitude and reflection and the time to process them. For more information click here.
Las Laguna Gallery
Deadline: September 31 In response to COVID-19, Las Laguna Gallery has launched its first online exhibition of art in all media, “A Light in the Darkness.” All submissions will be accepted and posted in an online gallery. Click here to learn more.
COVID-19 Artist Residency Project
Deadline: January 1, 2021 COVID-19 Artist Residency Project is an In-Place Residency that was launched in May 2020 to help creatives reframe their time during the Pandemic as an opportunity for self-exploration. The non-competitive residency is free to apply. All creative disciplines welcome. Learn more here.
Call For Entries, Prayers For the Pandemic, Prayers for Progress – Jersey City, NJ
The Drawing Rooms gallery is currently taking submissions for Prayers for the Pandemic; Prayers for Progress, a worldwide public art project, from artists living locally, nationally, and around the world. Our goal is to flood the world with artist-created prayer flags for an online show of images of the flags which will be posted on our website, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more here.
Call for Submissions: Queer Art Workers Reflect on Pride Amid COVID-19
Cognizant of the need to stay connected and elevate queer voices amid a climate of uncertainty, Hyperallergic is commemorating Pride Month by featuring one queer art worker per day on our website and asking them to reflect on what this time means to them. This series is meant to build on last year’s Queer Artists in Their Own Words. We encourage queer artists, curators, arts educators, filmmakers, programmers, conservators, and administrators from across the art world to join us. Click here to learn more.
A View From the Easel Call For Submissions
Temporarily, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, Hyperallergic is asking artists to share their experiences of their studios during times of quarantine for their “View From the Easel” section. For more information click here.
Artists Against an #Infodemic Call For Artists
The visual media organizations CatchLight, Dysturb, and The Everyday Projects are seeking submissions for visual art and storytelling that addresses key public health messages in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Formats can include: photography, video, cartoons/comics, graphic design, paintings, drawings, memes, and more. We will work with the selected artists to package the material for distribution on social media and for display in public spaces as murals and/or projections. For more information click here.
The Corona Portrait Project Call For Submissions
For tens of thousands of artists around the world, in a matter of weeks the novel coronavirus has caused the loss of exhibitions, projects, side gigs, and left much uncertainty behind. As we sit isolated at home and consider our fears and hopes for the future, this project is a challenge to confront ourselves by creating a self-portrait. A new artist will be featured weekly. For more information, click here.
Downtown Baltimore Partnership Call For Artists – Baltimore
The #ArtOfBaltimore campaign was launched to help support local artists and spark positive energy as we adjust to the economic and cultural impact of the COVID-19 virus. Selected works by local artists will appear on digital signage throughout Downtown Baltimore, and artist will receive a licensing fee and additional promotion of their work on DPOB social media channels. For more information click here.
Insider Art Fair Call For Submissions
In response to our extraordinary circumstances, the Willow Street Gallery is seeking artwork from local artists to showcase on our digital platforms for an online exhibition titled “Insider Art Fair.” This exhibition allows us at the WSG to continue our mission to provide a platform for local and emerging artists, and make meaningful connections while the community remains indoors and isolated. Click hereto learn more.
Social Distance Gallery For Thesis Exhibitions
Social Distance Gallery is posting BFA and MFA thesis exhibitions that are canceled or limited in access due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital exhibitions will be hosted on Instagram at @socialdistancegallery. Click here for submission instructions.
Amplifier’s Global Open Call For Art
In response to COVID-19, Amplifier is launching an emergency campaign with top art curators and public-health advisors from around the world. They are looking for public health and safety messages that can help flatten the curve through education, and symbols that help promote mental health, well-being, and social change work during these stressful times. Click here for more information.
Other Opportunities
Call For Entry, Global Meltdown
Deadline: July 31 The subject of this exhibition is every aspect of the global crisis compounded by COVID-19, be it political, global, personal, environmental, financial, psychological, scientific and/or spiritual. The competition is open to all artists, national and international, working in all media. All forms of artwork that can be represented by an image online and in print are eligible. Click here for more information.
Call For Entries, 7th Annual Water/Seascape Online Art Competition
Deadline: August 9 Contemporary Art Gallery Online is proud to announce their 8th Annual “Water/Seascape” Online Art Competition for 2020. Artists should submit their best representational and non-representational art related to the Water/Seascape theme. Click here to learn more.
Call For Entries, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition Black & White National Juried Art Show – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: August 10Black & White has always been woven in the fabric of our nation since its inception. How we confront these trying times today, goes to the core of who we are as a people/artists. This is an exhibition designed to bring together artists, art collectors, art organizations and communities. The featured artwork will provide a glimpse of the diversity of creative style and visual presentation found at BWAC. Learn how to enter here.
Call For Proposals, Rowan University Discovery Hall Stone Installation – Glassboro, NJ
Deadline: August 11 Rowan University is seeking to commission artwork(s) that will be integrated into the design for Discovery Hall. Artist finalists will be invited to submit a proposal for a permanent, site-specific artwork(s) on the exterior landscape of Discovery Hall that functions as an interpretive geological space for students, as well as an inspiring piece of art. For more information, click here.
Athenaeum Call for Artists & Poets: Speak Your Truth | Black Lives Matter Alexandria, VA
Deadline: August 27 We continuously celebrate the creativity of our diverse population in the DMV region and plan to launch an online digital gallery, Speak Your Truth | Black Lives Matter, an exhibition that aims to represent the depth and diversity of the region and its reflections on the activities associated with BLM. Click here for more information.
Part-Time Content Manager Wanted – D.C.
Deadline: August 31 Hemphill, a leading gallery of contemporary art in Washington, DC, seeks a part-time Content Manager for primarily remote work during the pandemic with the possibility of becoming full-time. To apply click here.
Director of Art and Programming Wanted – D.C.
Deadline: September 8 Stable, a new non-profit organization aimed at strengthening Washington, DC’s contemporary visual arts community by providing affordable and sustainable studio space and exhibition opportunities, is seeking a Director of Art and Programming. Learn more and apply here.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
1708 Gallery Inlight Richmond 2020 Call For Entries – Richmond
Deadline: July 31 InLight is a public exhibition of contemporary light-based artworks—multimedia and interactive projects, video, projection, sculpture, installation, performance, community-based work, digital and virtual projects. Artists, community groups, and stewards of spaces in Richmond are invited to propose projects that can illuminate issues of Safety and Accountability. We seek proposals that respond to what these key terms mean spatially, historically, socially, and politically. We invite proposals that demonstrate profound consideration for designated sites and their communities. For more information click here.
Video Story Grant For Artists – Baltimore
Deadline: July 31 The Orphan We grant is open to applicants who have an interesting life story to tell. We accept video stories up to 10 minutes long. The grant amount is $300. Artists and activists are welcome to apply. Special consideration will be given to applicants from marginalized groups. Learn more here.
Archival Call to Artists – D.C.
Deadline: July 31 Mehari Sequar Gallery is committed to documenting and remembering the recent global outcry against the oppression, violence and injustices perpetuated on the Black community and all minorities in the U.S. and around the globe. We are calling all creatives to contribute original digital content related to recent protests to honor the memories of victims of state violence. We would like to acquire your photographs, audio and video content, protest art, articles, news reports, op-Ed’s, diaries, and other digital memorabilia to mark this seminal moment through a digital archival exhibition. Click here for more information.
Artist Relief Grants Call For Applications
Deadline: July 31 To support artists during the COVID-19 crisis, a coalition of national arts grant makers have come together to create an emergency initiative to offer financial and informational resources to artists across the United States. Click here to apply.
Global Conversation 2020 Open Call
Deadline: August 1 Create art that tells a story of how you feel about the pressing issues facing humanity. Global Conversation 2020 invites artists of all types to participate in this global group art exhibition. For more information click here.
Visionary Art Collective Call For Submissions, Here, There & Elsewhere
Deadline: August 1Here, There & Elsewhere is an exhibit centered around work that explores the concept of place. We are seeking work that explores the moods and emotions of places, whether they be internal or external. Click here for more information.
Open Call For Submissions, Black Life Matter Group Show – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: August 1 Carrie Able Gallery seeks artist submissions for a group show on the Black Lives Matter movement. Work can be introspective artwork, protest art, documentary photography. All modes of expression welcome. free to submit please send 3 images with information about the work to [email protected]. Learn more here.
Call For Submissions: Outdoor Sculpture for Ramapo College of NJ Learning Commons – Mawwah, NJ
Deadline: August 3 Ramapo College of New Jersey is soliciting Expressions of Interest (“EOI”) from prospective artists to design, fabricate and install artwork for the Learning Commons at its Mahwah, New Jersey campus. The proposed artwork for the building is part of the New Jersey Arts Inclusion Program and is coordinated by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Ramapo College. Learn more here.
Sea of Change Mid-Atlantic 2020 Call For Submissions Extension Virginia Beach, VA
Deadline: August 3 There is beauty in all the waterways that surround us, but our climate is changing and perhaps our lives as well. The Virginia Beach Art Center invites artists from South Carolina to Pennsylvania to submit to our a showcase of all media artwork from the Mid-Atlantic that celebrates our present and warns of our future. For more information click here.
Creators Wanted For DC Design Week Maker Directory – DC
Deadline: August 5 DC is full of creators who craft art, jewelry, home goods, ceramics, furniture, and more. In September, we’ll be launching a directory of makers on dcdesignweek.org to help folks in our region (and around the world!) find awesome people doing awesome things. Whether you have an online shop or brick-and-mortar, we want to show the world the amazing things you make. If you’re interested, apply here.
The Grand Exhibition, An Open Art Competition: Embodying Masonic Values – Philadelphia
Deadline: August 6 All artwork entries must display a visual interpretation of some aspect of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, whether it be philosophical, historical, scientific, social, fraternal, charitable, architectural, etc. Selected artwork will be exhibited in the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia. For more information click here.
1460 Wallmountables Exhibition – D.C.
Deadline: August 7th (new members & non-members) Every year since 1989, the District of Columbia Arts Center’s 1460 Wallmountables summer open exhibition has celebrated the diversity of artists working in the D.C. area. Artists of any experience, background, age, or discipline are welcomed to participate in this unjuried, non-curated, hang-it-yourself show. Click here for more information.
D.C. Commission on the Arts FY21 Art Bank Program Request for Applications – DC
Deadline: August 7 The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) invites submissions from qualified artists and District art galleries or District nonprofit organizations representing metropolitan artists for the acquisition of works of original two- and three-dimensional artworks for its Fiscal Year 2021 Art Bank Program. Award amounts vary; the total grant award will not exceed $10,000.The grant period is from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021. Learn how to apply here.
Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition Call For Submissions – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: August 10 The Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition is accepting submissions for its fourth Black & White national juried art show. For more information click here.
Call for Artists: Eighth Annual Eastern West Virginia Juried Exhibit – Martinsburg, WV
Deadline: August 12 The Berkeley Arts Council in Martinsburg, West Virginia announces the Eighth Annual Eastern West Virginia Juried Exhibit, to be displayed in the Berkeley Art Works Gallery. The exhibit is open to artists in all media who reside in one of the eight counties that compose what is known as the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. For more information click here.
Invitation to Artisans, Carroll Creek Kinetic Art Promenade – Frederick, MD
Deadline: August 14 Carroll Creek Kinetic Art Promenade invites regional artisans and teams of collaborative regional artisans living within 80 miles of Frederick, MD to submit their designs for review. By participating in Carroll Creek Kinetic Art Promenade, you’ll add to the vibrancy and beauty of Downtown Frederick and contribute much to its artistic fabric! Click hereto apply.
Summer 2020 Surreal Photography Competition – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: August 15 For the strange and unusual; visual intriguing; and mentally stimulating. Mobius Photo is an online platform dedicated to the curation of emerging and established photographers through competitions. Submissions are open for 3.5 month periods. Winners are announced 2 weeks after the closing date. Selected works live on the website for the following year. Click here to apply.
Call For Proposals, Shall Make, Shall Be: The Bill of Rights at Play – Pittsburgh
Deadline: August 17 Shall Make, Shall Be: The Bill of Rights at Play invites artists and independent game makers to propose game-based artworks around the individual Amendments in the Bill of Rights. Ten artists will be selected, with each asked to create a playable work exploring one of the Ten Amendments from the Bill of Rights. Artists will be invited to develop their works with the support of the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon. Learn more here.
Call For Entry, Us: What Divides Us and What Unites Us? – D.C.
Deadline: August 17 Founded in 1976, Touchstone Gallery, Washington, DC is seeking entries for an international online juried show “Us: What divides us and what unites us?” scheduled to exhibit online September 11 – October 30, 2020. Click here for more information.
Deadline: August 23 The Kay Daugherty Gallery at Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center will showcase artworks that reinvent and reconsider recognizable works of art and popular culture icons through a contemporary lens. Artists are encouraged to submit works that speak to contemporary culture, current events, or envision the “new normal.” For more information, click here.
See My Color: A Social Justice Call for Art
Deadline: August 30 The Women’s Caucus for Art of Greater Washington, DC invites members of the National Women’s Caucus for Art to submit artwork for a juried online exhibition titled See My Color, WCADC’s Social Justice Art Exhibition. “See My Color” will explore artists’ relationships with racial injustice, police brutality, and criminal justice reform through visual art. Click here for more information.
Call For Entries, Aesthetica Art Prize 2020
Deadline: August 31 Since its establishment ten years ago, the Aesthetica Magazine Art Prize has provided a platform for artists across the globe to showcase their work through publication, exhibition, prize money and wider exposure. Aesthetica is looking for artists redefining the parameters of contemporary art. The Prize is open to multiple genres including photography, sculpture, installation, digital media, video, painting and more. To enter click here.
Council on Virginia Tech History Seeks Public Art for University’s Sesquicentennial – Blacksburg, VA
Deadline: August 31 The Council on Virginia Tech History has initiated a call for public art in preparation for the university’s sesquicentennial in 2022. The call, “Understanding Our Complicated Past and Reconnecting with Our Layered Histories: An International Ideas Competition,” seeks proposals for creative approaches to highlight how historically marginalized communities have shaped and will continue to shape Virginia Tech. The winning art pieces will be featured at the university’s oldest structures, Solitude and the Fraction Family House, which were part of the grounds of a former plantation owned by the Preston family. The Solitude House was occupied by the family, and the Fraction Family House is the only remaining structure for housing those enslaved by the Prestons. Proposals for all forms of art, from virtual to physical and everything in between, are highly encouraged. Learn more here.
Call For Entries, Practice What You Teach – Virginia Beach, VA
Deadline: September 1 Virginia’s K-12 Art Educators have an opportunity to show off their own artwork and vie for prizes worth a total of $2000! Virginia Beach Art Center is presenting this states-wide expression of loving what you teach. Learn how to enter here.
Greenwood Cemetery Artist-In-Residence 2021 – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: September 2 This nine-month-long residency (January– September 2021) will offer one artist the opportunity to create a new project or body of work inspired by beautiful natural landscape, stunning monuments, and compelling history. The residency is open to emerging or mid-career artists residing in New York City and working in the visual and/or performing arts. Learn more here.
Call For Entries, Focus National Juried Photography Exhibition – Frederick, MD
Deadline: September 28 The National Juried Photography Exhibition is held biennially in November at The Delaplaine Arts Center as part of Focus, our month-long celebration of photography. All photographs, black & white, color, non-silver, computer-manipulated, digital, or pinhole are eligible. Learn more here.
Open Call For Public Programs – D.C.
Deadline: October 1 Hamiltonian Artists is launching a new initiative of public programming, Platform, that positions the organization as a hub for conversation amongst practitioners. For the first season, now through the Presidential election on November 3, we invite artists, independent curators and organizers, organizations, and others to submit a proposal for a public program that specifically addresses racial justice, social justice movements and practices, collective action, and other conversations that intersect with the arts. Learn more here.
National Sculpture Society Grants
Deadline: October 5 The National Sculpture Society offers three grants of $5000 each. Figurative, realist and animal sculpture of greatest interest. Open to US residents and citizens with a social security number. For more information click here.
Bennett Prize Call For Entries, Women Figurative Painters
Deadline: October 16 The Bennett Prize, created in 2018, awards $50,000 to a woman artist to create her own solo exhibition of figurative realist paintings, which will travel the country. The Prize will propel the careers of women painters who have not yet realized full professional recognition, empowering new artists and those who have painted for many years. The Prize will expand opportunities for the public, who may not be familiar with figurative realist painting, to learn more about the creative vision of talented women painters in this increasingly popular genre. Apply here.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts 2021-22 Fellowship Program – Richmond, VA
Deadline: November 6 The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship (VMFA) Program, a vital source of funding for the visual arts and art history in Virginia, is committed to supporting professional artists as well as art and art history students who demonstrate exceptional creative ability in their chosen discipline. Applications are now being accepted for the 2021-22 fellowship program. Click hereto apply.
Call For Entries, Artist/Writers: Cover Art For Academic Medicine
Deadline: December 30 Submit original works of art inspired by, but not necessarily representative of, an academic medicine experience from any perspective: caregiver, researcher, teacher, learner, or patient (for example, learning how to be a physician or scientist, caring for patients, exploring research questions, making a new discovery, being a research participant, teaching, or being cared for in a teaching hospital). The journal welcomes photography, sculpture, painting, textile work, and other visual media. Images may be cropped or resized to fit into the allotted cover space. Artists must also submit a related Cover Art essay as a narrative companion to the artwork, to explain the connection between the work and the “academic medicine experience.” Learn more here.
Ongoing: These opportunities have rolling deadlines.
Alterwork Studios Online Residency
This residency was designed to give emerging contemporary artists an online platform to create new work and explore their practice. Over the course of four weeks, artists will be encouraged to experiment and explore their concepts and move their work forward in the contemporary art world. Learn more here.
Accepting Artwork for Curatorial Review by AIWA
The Alper Initiative for Washington Art features five exhibitions per year in the newly constructed first floor space in the American University Museum. We accept submissions, on a rolling basis, from Washington artists of all ages and backgrounds, and working in diverse media. The museum’s Director and Curator, Jack Rasmussen, will select curators who will review these submissions for potential use in Alper Initiative exhibitions. For more information click here.
Call For Entry Hamilton Arts Collective Guest Artist Exhibition – Baltimore
The Hamilton Arts Collective (HAC) and the Hamilton Gallery seek applications from artists for month-long Guest Artist exhibitions at Hamilton Gallery located at 5502 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD. The selected guest artists will be invited to exhibit a selection of their current work in Gallery I of the Hamilton Gallery. The Guest Artist exhibition is featured in Hamilton Gallery communications and will be promoted by the HAC and Hamilton Gallery. This is an open call to artists residing within 60 miles of Baltimore City. Baltimore residents are encouraged to apply. Click here to learn more.
Howard County Arts Council Quarterly Call For Artists – Ellicott City, MD
The Howard County Arts Council gallery program was established to enhance the public’s appreciation of the visual arts, provide a venue to exhibit the work of local, regional, and national artists in a professional space, and provide leadership in the arts by presenting a broad spectrum of arts in all media from both emerging and established artists. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group. Proposals from curators and arts organizations are also welcome. Click here to learn more.
Exhibit at Hotel Indigo Downtown Baltimore — Baltimore, MD
The Maryland Art Place (MAP) is working with Hotel Indigo in downtown Baltimore to offer rotating exhibitions in the hotel’s library and Poets Modern Cocktails and Eats restaurant. This opportunity is open to visual artists living or working in Maryland. ’s public art partnership projects (MAP), in partnership with Hotel Indigo, is pleased to announce an open call to artists. MAP will curate four exhibitions a year based on submissions entered through a rolling basis. Click here to learn more.
Solo or Group Shows in Athenaeum Gallery – VA
The Athenaeum Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia exhibits visual arts created solely by artists living or working in the region (DC, Maryland and Virginia) and strives to present visitors with a wide variety of excellent art and unique experiences. In addition to the shows curated by the Gallery Director, the Athenaeum Gallery invites artists and curators to submit show proposals. For more information, visit https://artist.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=6876.
The Creativity Grant Program State of Maryland (MD)
Deadline: Rolling. The purpose of the Creativity Grant Program is to strengthen the vitality and sustainability of artists and small organizations to maintain a strong and stable arts infrastructure in the State of Maryland. The Creativity Grant also provides opportunities to serve the growing needs of relevant arts projects and collaborations within Maryland communities. For more information regarding eligibility and funding timelines, please review the Creativity Grants Guidelines. For more information about the program, and to apply visit the Creativity Grant Program State of Maryland website.
Artist/Writers: Cover Art for Academic Medicine
Deadline: Rolling. Submit original works of art inspired by, but not necessarily representative of, an academic medicine experience from any perspective: caregiver, researcher, teacher, learner, or patient (for example, learning how to be a physician or scientist, caring for patients, exploring research questions, making a new discovery, being a research participant, teaching, or being cared for in a teaching hospital). The journal welcomes photography, sculpture, painting, textile work, and other visual media. Images may be cropped or resized to fit into the allotted cover space. Artists must also submit a related Cover Art essay as a narrative companion to the artwork, to explain the connection between the work and the “academic medicine experience.” The related narrative should be 250 to 600 words and is subject to editing. To apply for this opportunity, and to learn more, visit the Academic Medicine website.
The Awesome Foundation Accepting Applications for Art Projects
Deadline: Open. The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences is a worldwide network of people devoted to forwarding the interest of “awesomeness in the universe.” Established in 2009, the foundation distributes $1,000 grants on a monthly basis to projects and their creators. The money is pooled from ten or more self-organizing “micro-trustees.” The chapters are autonomous and organized by the trustees around geographic areas or topics of interest. Apply on the Awesome Foundation website.
Call for Artists: Maryland Art Place Seeks Proposals for Rotating Exhibition Partnership with Baltimore’s Hotel Indigo (MD)
Deadline: rolling. Maryland Art Place (MAP), in partnership with Hotel Indigo is pleased to announce an open ‘Call to Artists’. As an extension of MAP’s annual IMPACT public art partnership projects, MAP is working with Hotel Indigo to offer rotating exhibitions in Hotel indigo’s library and Poets Modern Cocktails and Eats. This opportunity is available to visual artists living or working in Maryland. Maryland Art Place will curate four exhibitions a year based on submissions entered through a rolling basis. Guidelines and information here.
Peripheral ARTeries – Biennial Contemporary Art Publication
Deadline: Rolling. Peripheral ARTeries is looking for artists to be featured in the new special Biennial Edition of their art publication, that comes to its 10th edition. This opportunity is great for both established and early career artists who need a boost to their artist portfolio. The 10th edition will once again explore and show current trends and tendencies in Contemporary Art: Peripheral ARTeries cultivates a spirit of openness through a unique collaborative and participatory approach.Each artist may submit a maximum of three works or projects made in any technique: painting, drawing, video art, experimental cinema, fine art photography, experimental media, mixed media, installations, public art, performance. The call is open to all proposed kind of art and media capable of challenging the viewers’ traditional perspective on art itself. To submit, visit the Peripheral ARTeries website.
Exhibit at Hotel Indigo (VA)
Artists works will displayed in the hotel’s gallery (220 S Union St, Old Town Alexandria) for a six-month period. Two-dimensional, framed works only. Artists will install the work using the hotel’s mounting hardware. Labels will be provided by the hotel. All sales handled by artist, no commission. Preference for local or locally influenced selections but not required. The space measures approximately 7’10” by 8’3.″ If interested, contact Kate Ellis, General Manager, [email protected].
The New Project Studio – Ongoing Opportunity (VA)
Ongoing. Located in Studio 8, the New Project Studio is a community-focused arts incubator space that offers a short-term location to test new program ideas, spotlight underrepresented voices, and enhance community engagement. Projects rotate on a regular basis. For more information, clickhere.
Public Arts Grants & Opportunities (VA)
Ongoing. The City of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts provides grants for nonprofit arts organizations as well as individual artists. See all current opportunities and online applications here.
Residency: Maryland
Deadline: ongoing. Montgomery College, Rockville and Germantown Art Department is seeking proposals for its Artist-in-Residence Program, encouraging proposals that cultivate collaborative work between artists and students.
Looking for artists: Foundry Gallery (DC)
Deadline: ongoing. Foundry Gallery is seeking a few artists in the greater Washington, DC area. If interested in applying for membership please send up to five images (jpg attachments) and an email letter to: [email protected]. The oldest cooperative in Washington, the gallery holds monthly solo and members’ group shows at its beautiful space north of Shaw near the 9:30 Club.
Looking for artists: Printmakers (DC)
Deadline: ongoing. Washington Printmakers Gallery is seeking artist members specializing in printmaking, photography and book arts. An active cooperative for over 30 years, the gallery holds monthly solo and members’ group shows in its lovely space in upper Georgetown. Distant and shared memberships are available. If interested in applying for membership please email [email protected].
Welcome to Artful Weekend, our guide to fun and interesting ways to enjoy and engage in art as you shelter-in-place or practice social distancing.
This weekend: An outdoor installation in Georgetown, a printmaker’s retrospective, a participatory portrait project, and more!
Warming Waters
Fiber art and new media combine for Warming Waters, a temporary installation gracing Georgetown’s C&O Canal wall. Created by artist and activist Monica Jahan Bose and multimedia artist and video journalist Robin Bell, it features colorful saris from Bangladesh—embellished with woodblock print and hand painted messages about climate change—that are illuminated with video projections at night (weather permitting). See it now through Saturday, July 25.
Now And Then: Fifty Years of Prints
“Metro Test” by James Earl
Maryland-based artist Jim Earl’s work often juxtaposes the near and far, the mundane and the mythic. Now And Then: Fifty Years of Prints, his retrospective online at Foundry Gallery, is comprised of his signature silk screens, etchings and monoprints, and a couple of works that reference his career as a physicist.
Flower Power
“Melanie–Avid Contra Dancer” by Karin Edgett
“I am intensely interested in color, shape and pattern of flowers for they contain a new energy, a higher vibration,” says D.C.-based painter Karin Edgett who regularly photographs flowers. Her latest project Flower Alchemy, selfies of people in masks merged with her vibrant floral photo mosaics, offers an uplifting take on these dire and restrictive times. See her portraits in the window of Caldwell Banker Capital Hill at 350 7th Street, SE, or at her online gallery. Interested in possibly adding your masked selfie to Flower Alchemy? You can contact Edgett here.
Carte Blanche
“Anna Mendoza” by Maremi Hooff Andreozzi
Adah Rose Gallery in Kensington, Maryland has reopened with regular hours on weekends. Pop in for Carte Blanche, a group show featuring Alexandria’s Maremi Hooff Andreozzi among other Virginia-based artists. Or view Safe Havens, Adah Rose Gallery’s exclusive Artsy online show featuring the work of artists Maggie Gourlay and Scott Hazard that explore aspects of the natural environment and personal experience in relation to it.
This Round’s On Me
“Looking for Answers” by Steven Walker
Artist Steven Walker wants to show those suffering from depression that they are not alone. This Round’s On Me, his series of paintings expressing pleasant life events through the lens of various glassware, speaks to the fragility he has faced with depression and anxiety. See it online at Calloway Fine Art & Consulting.
Even during difficult times, creativity persists. Throughout this period of social distancing, we will begin our listing with opportunities that uniquely address the coronavirus pandemic—be they calls for art that specifically speaks to it, or virtual exhibits that are cropping up as a result of it. Some have definitive deadlines and others are more flexible, so be sure to check guidelines carefully. We encourage you to share these and other opportunities with your creative circle.
Opportunities in Response to COVID-19
Call For Entries, Art During the Time of COVID-19 – Arbutus, MD
Deadline: July 24 Art can heal, art can save lives, and art can bring us together even while we are apart. Oca Mocha invites submissions of your creative endeavors during the time of this pandemic. Email [email protected] with “OCA Mocha – Art During the Time of COVID-19” as the subject line for submission details.
Athenaeum Call For Entries for A Very Weird Time
Deadline: August 14 Artists are invited to submit works that represent the full gamut of how the global coronavirus pandemic and its associated social distancing has affected them. Fear, uncertainty, anger and doubt are certainly typical responses but we are also interested in evidence of the creative benefits of solitude and reflection and the time to process them. For more information click here.
Las Laguna Gallery
Deadline: September 31 In response to COVID-19, Las Laguna Gallery has launched its first online exhibition of art in all media, “A Light in the Darkness.” All submissions will be accepted and posted in an online gallery. Click here to learn more.
COVID-19 Artist Residency Project
Deadline: January 1, 2021 COVID-19 Artist Residency Project is an In-Place Residency that was launched in May 2020 to help creatives reframe their time during the Pandemic as an opportunity for self-exploration. The non-competitive residency is free to apply. All creative disciplines welcome. Learn more here.
Call For Entries, Prayers For the Pandemic, Prayers for Progress – Jersey City, NJ
The Drawing Rooms gallery is currently taking submissions for Prayers for the Pandemic; Prayers for Progress, a worldwide public art project, from artists living locally, nationally, and around the world. Our goal is to flood the world with artist-created prayer flags for an online show of images of the flags which will be posted on our website, Facebook and Instagram. Learn more here.
Call for Submissions: Queer Art Workers Reflect on Pride Amid COVID-19
Cognizant of the need to stay connected and elevate queer voices amid a climate of uncertainty, Hyperallergic is commemorating Pride Month by featuring one queer art worker per day on our website and asking them to reflect on what this time means to them. This series is meant to build on last year’s Queer Artists in Their Own Words. We encourage queer artists, curators, arts educators, filmmakers, programmers, conservators, and administrators from across the art world to join us. Click here to learn more.
A View From the Easel Call For Submissions
Temporarily, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, Hyperallergic is asking artists to share their experiences of their studios during times of quarantine for their “View From the Easel” section. For more information click here.
Artists Against an #Infodemic Call For Artists
The visual media organizations CatchLight, Dysturb, and The Everyday Projects are seeking submissions for visual art and storytelling that addresses key public health messages in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Formats can include: photography, video, cartoons/comics, graphic design, paintings, drawings, memes, and more. We will work with the selected artists to package the material for distribution on social media and for display in public spaces as murals and/or projections. For more information click here.
The Corona Portrait Project Call For Submissions
For tens of thousands of artists around the world, in a matter of weeks the novel coronavirus has caused the loss of exhibitions, projects, side gigs, and left much uncertainty behind. As we sit isolated at home and consider our fears and hopes for the future, this project is a challenge to confront ourselves by creating a self-portrait. A new artist will be featured weekly. For more information, click here.
Downtown Baltimore Partnership Call For Artists – Baltimore
The #ArtOfBaltimore campaign was launched to help support local artists and spark positive energy as we adjust to the economic and cultural impact of the COVID-19 virus. Selected works by local artists will appear on digital signage throughout Downtown Baltimore, and artist will receive a licensing fee and additional promotion of their work on DPOB social media channels. For more information click here.
Insider Art Fair Call For Submissions
In response to our extraordinary circumstances, the Willow Street Gallery is seeking artwork from local artists to showcase on our digital platforms for an online exhibition titled “Insider Art Fair.” This exhibition allows us at the WSG to continue our mission to provide a platform for local and emerging artists, and make meaningful connections while the community remains indoors and isolated. Click hereto learn more.
Social Distance Gallery For Thesis Exhibitions
Social Distance Gallery is posting BFA and MFA thesis exhibitions that are canceled or limited in access due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital exhibitions will be hosted on Instagram at @socialdistancegallery. Click here for submission instructions.
Amplifier’s Global Open Call For Art
In response to COVID-19, Amplifier is launching an emergency campaign with top art curators and public-health advisors from around the world. They are looking for public health and safety messages that can help flatten the curve through education, and symbols that help promote mental health, well-being, and social change work during these stressful times. Click here for more information.
Other Opportunities
1460 Wallmountables Exhibition – D.C.
Deadline: Renewing & Existing Members | July 22nd – July 26th; New Members & Non Members | July 29th – August 7th Every year since 1989, the District of Columbia Arts Center’s 1460 Wallmountables summer open exhibition has celebrated the diversity of artists working in the D.C. area. Artists of any experience, background, age, or discipline are welcomed to participate in this unjuried, non-curated, hang-it-yourself show. Click here for more information.
1708 Gallery Inlight Richmond 2020 Call For Entries – Richmond
Deadline: July 31 InLight is a public exhibition of contemporary light-based artworks—multimedia and interactive projects, video, projection, sculpture, installation, performance, community-based work, digital and virtual projects. Artists, community groups, and stewards of spaces in Richmond are invited to propose projects that can illuminate issues of Safety and Accountability. We seek proposals that respond to what these key terms mean spatially, historically, socially, and politically. We invite proposals that demonstrate profound consideration for designated sites and their communities. For more information click here.
Video Story Grant For Artists – Baltimore
Deadline: July 31 The Orphan We grant is open to applicants who have an interesting life story to tell. We accept video stories up to 10 minutes long. The grant amount is $300. Artists and activists are welcome to apply. Special consideration will be given to applicants from marginalized groups. Learn more here.
Global Conversation 2020 Open Call
Deadline: August 1 Create art that tells a story of how you feel about the pressing issues facing humanity. Global Conversation 2020 invites artists of all types to participate in this global group art exhibition. For more information click here.
Visionary Art Collective Call For Submissions, Here, There & Elsewhere
Deadline: August 1Here, There & Elsewhere is an exhibit centered around work that explores the concept of place. We are seeking work that explores the moods and emotions of places, whether they be internal or external. Click here for more information.
Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition Call For Submissions – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: August 10 The Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition is accepting submissions for its fourth Black & White national juried art show. For more information click here.
Call For Proposals, Shall Make, Shall Be: The Bill of Rights at Play – Pittsburgh
Deadline: August 17 Shall Make, Shall Be: The Bill of Rights at Play invites artists and independent game makers to propose game-based artworks around the individual Amendments in the Bill of Rights. Ten artists will be selected, with each asked to create a playable work exploring one of the Ten Amendments from the Bill of Rights. Artists will be invited to develop their works with the support of the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon. Learn more here.
Call For Entry, Us: What Divides Us and What Unites Us? – D.C.
Deadline: August 17 Founded in 1976, Touchstone Gallery, Washington, DC is seeking entries for an international online juried show “Us: What divides us and what unites us?” scheduled to exhibit online September 11 – October 30, 2020. Click here for more information.
National Sculpture Society Grants
Deadline: October 5 The National Sculpture Society offers three grants of $5000 each. Figurative, realist and animal sculpture of greatest interest. Open to US residents and citizens with a social security number. For more information click here.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Call to Artists: Paint It! Ellicott City 2020 – Ellicott City, Maryland
Deadline: July 23 Paint It! Ellicott City is an annual event that brings artists and spectators interested in the plein air tradition to Ellicott City. Both juried and open paint artists set up their easels around the historic district, enjoying a summer weekend as they capture the picturesque mill town and all its charms. The event culminates in an exhibit of juried artists’ work in our gallery, which features an opening reception and juror’s award presentation. For more information click here.
Call For Applications, Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Awards
Deadline: July 24 Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Awards (IAAs) recognizes achievement by Maryland artists making work independent of an institution or organization. In 2021 IAAs will recognize artists in the Visual/Media Arts. Learn more here.
Call For Submissions, American Muslim Futures – D.C.
Deadline: July 26American Muslim Futures invites Muslim and allied / aligned artists of all mediums (visual, performing, literary, fashion, etc.) to help realize a country free of hate and oppression. We’re asking you to create the images, songs, poems, fashions, plays, performances, and cultures of this America free of hate and oppression. Up to 20 artists will receive $600 and be showcased in this official digital exhibit, opening portals for us to follow into a better tomorrow. Learn more here.
New Jersey Division of Taxation 2D Art Purchase – Trenton, NJ
Deadline: July 26 The New Jersey Taxation Building in Trenton is a newly constructed office building in the State Capital Complex, which will house the offices of the Division of Taxation. The State is seeking to purchase completed two-dimensional artwork for display in the new building. This call is open only to living New Jersey residents who are permanent residents of Mercer County, or maintain a permanent art studio address in Mercer County. For more information click here.
Calling All Emerging Artists, DC Design Week Poster Commission
Deadline: July 29 This year is a celebration of the creative voices in our community, and we want to hear yours. We’re commissioning up to five emerging artists to design a poster that we’ll print and sell on an online shop hosted by Cherry Blossom Creative. Having a final design isn’t required to apply! Learn more here.
Archival Call to Artists – D.C.
Deadline: July 31 Mehari Sequar Gallery is committed to documenting and remembering the recent global outcry against the oppression, violence and injustices perpetuated on the Black community and all minorities in the U.S. and around the globe. We are calling all creatives to contribute original digital content related to recent protests to honor the memories of victims of state violence. We would like to acquire your photographs, audio and video content, protest art, articles, news reports, op-Ed’s, diaries, and other digital memorabilia to mark this seminal moment through a digital archival exhibition. Click here for more information.
Artist Relief Grants Call For Applications
Deadline: July 31 To support artists during the COVID-19 crisis, a coalition of national arts grant makers have come together to create an emergency initiative to offer financial and informational resources to artists across the United States. Click here to apply.
Open Call For Submissions, Black Life Matter Group Show – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: August 1 Carrie Able Gallery seeks artist submissions for a group show on the Black Lives Matter movement. Work can be introspective artwork, protest art, documentary photography. All modes of expression welcome. free to submit please send 3 images with information about the work to [email protected]. Learn more here.
Call For Submissions: Outdoor Sculpture for Ramapo College of NJ Learning Commons – Mawwah, NJ
Deadline: August 3 Ramapo College of New Jersey is soliciting Expressions of Interest (“EOI”) from prospective artists to design, fabricate and install artwork for the Learning Commons at its Mahwah, New Jersey campus. The proposed artwork for the building is part of the New Jersey Arts Inclusion Program and is coordinated by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Ramapo College. Learn more here.
Sea of Change Mid-Atlantic 2020 Call For Submissions Extension Virginia Beach, VA
Deadline: August 3 There is beauty in all the waterways that surround us, but our climate is changing and perhaps our lives as well. The Virginia Beach Art Center invites artists from South Carolina to Pennsylvania to submit to our a showcase of all media artwork from the Mid-Atlantic that celebrates our present and warns of our future. For more information click here.
Creators Wanted For DC Design Week Maker Directory – DC
Deadline: August 5 DC is full of creators who craft art, jewelry, home goods, ceramics, furniture, and more. In September, we’ll be launching a directory of makers on dcdesignweek.org to help folks in our region (and around the world!) find awesome people doing awesome things. Whether you have an online shop or brick-and-mortar, we want to show the world the amazing things you make. If you’re interested, apply here.
The Grand Exhibition, An Open Art Competition: Embodying Masonic Values – Philadelphia
Deadline: August 6 All artwork entries must display a visual interpretation of some aspect of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, whether it be philosophical, historical, scientific, social, fraternal, charitable, architectural, etc. Selected artwork will be exhibited in the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia. For more information click here.
D.C. Commission on the Arts FY21 Art Bank Program Request for Applications – DC
Deadline: August 7 The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) invites submissions from qualified artists and District art galleries or District nonprofit organizations representing metropolitan artists for the acquisition of works of original two- and three-dimensional artworks for its Fiscal Year 2021 Art Bank Program. Award amounts vary; the total grant award will not exceed $10,000.The grant period is from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021. Learn how to apply here.
Call for Artists: Eighth Annual Eastern West Virginia Juried Exhibit – Martinsburg, WV
Deadline: August 12 The Berkeley Arts Council in Martinsburg, West Virginia announces the Eighth Annual Eastern West Virginia Juried Exhibit, to be displayed in the Berkeley Art Works Gallery. The exhibit is open to artists in all media who reside in one of the eight counties that compose what is known as the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. For more information click here.
Invitation to Artisans, Carroll Creek Kinetic Art Promenade – Frederick, MD
Deadline: August 14 Carroll Creek Kinetic Art Promenade invites regional artisans and teams of collaborative regional artisans living within 80 miles of Frederick, MD to submit their designs for review. By participating in Carroll Creek Kinetic Art Promenade, you’ll add to the vibrancy and beauty of Downtown Frederick and contribute much to its artistic fabric! Click hereto apply.
Summer 2020 Surreal Photography Competition – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: August 15 For the strange and unusual; visual intriguing; and mentally stimulating. Mobius Photo is an online platform dedicated to the curation of emerging and established photographers through competitions. Submissions are open for 3.5 month periods. Winners are announced 2 weeks after the closing date. Selected works live on the website for the following year. Click here to apply.
Deadline: August 23 The Kay Daugherty Gallery at Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center will showcase artworks that reinvent and reconsider recognizable works of art and popular culture icons through a contemporary lens. Artists are encouraged to submit works that speak to contemporary culture, current events, or envision the “new normal.” For more information, click here.
See My Color: A Social Justice Call for Art
Deadline: August 30 The Women’s Caucus for Art of Greater Washington, DC invites members of the National Women’s Caucus for Art to submit artwork for a juried online exhibition titled See My Color, WCADC’s Social Justice Art Exhibition. “See My Color” will explore artists’ relationships with racial injustice, police brutality, and criminal justice reform through visual art. Click here for more information.
Call For Entries, Aesthetica Art Prize 2020
Deadline: August 31 Since its establishment ten years ago, the Aesthetica Magazine Art Prize has provided a platform for artists across the globe to showcase their work through publication, exhibition, prize money and wider exposure. Aesthetica is looking for artists redefining the parameters of contemporary art. The Prize is open to multiple genres including photography, sculpture, installation, digital media, video, painting and more. To enter click here.
Council on Virginia Tech History Seeks Public Art for University’s Sesquicentennial – Blacksburg, VA
Deadline: August 31 The Council on Virginia Tech History has initiated a call for public art in preparation for the university’s sesquicentennial in 2022. The call, “Understanding Our Complicated Past and Reconnecting with Our Layered Histories: An International Ideas Competition,” seeks proposals for creative approaches to highlight how historically marginalized communities have shaped and will continue to shape Virginia Tech. The winning art pieces will be featured at the university’s oldest structures, Solitude and the Fraction Family House, which were part of the grounds of a former plantation owned by the Preston family. The Solitude House was occupied by the family, and the Fraction Family House is the only remaining structure for housing those enslaved by the Prestons. Proposals for all forms of art, from virtual to physical and everything in between, are highly encouraged. Learn more here.
Call For Entries, Practice What You Teach – Virginia Beach, VA
Deadline: September 1 Virginia’s K-12 Art Educators have an opportunity to show off their own artwork and vie for prizes worth a total of $2000! Virginia Beach Art Center is presenting this states-wide expression of loving what you teach. Learn how to enter here.
Greenwood Cemetery Artist-In-Residence 2021 – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: September 2 This nine-month-long residency (January– September 2021) will offer one artist the opportunity to create a new project or body of work inspired by beautiful natural landscape, stunning monuments, and compelling history. The residency is open to emerging or mid-career artists residing in New York City and working in the visual and/or performing arts. Learn more here.
Call For Entries, Focus National Juried Photography Exhibition – Frederick, MD
Deadline: September 28 The National Juried Photography Exhibition is held biennially in November at The Delaplaine Arts Center as part of Focus, our month-long celebration of photography. All photographs, black & white, color, non-silver, computer-manipulated, digital, or pinhole are eligible. Learn more here.
Open Call For Public Programs – D.C.
Deadline: October 1 Hamiltonian Artists is launching a new initiative of public programming, Platform, that positions the organization as a hub for conversation amongst practitioners. For the first season, now through the Presidential election on November 3, we invite artists, independent curators and organizers, organizations, and others to submit a proposal for a public program that specifically addresses racial justice, social justice movements and practices, collective action, and other conversations that intersect with the arts. Learn more here.
Bennett Prize Call For Entries, Women Figurative Painters
Deadline: October 16 The Bennett Prize, created in 2018, awards $50,000 to a woman artist to create her own solo exhibition of figurative realist paintings, which will travel the country. The Prize will propel the careers of women painters who have not yet realized full professional recognition, empowering new artists and those who have painted for many years. The Prize will expand opportunities for the public, who may not be familiar with figurative realist painting, to learn more about the creative vision of talented women painters in this increasingly popular genre. Apply here.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts 2021-22 Fellowship Program – Richmond, VA
Deadline: November 6 The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship (VMFA) Program, a vital source of funding for the visual arts and art history in Virginia, is committed to supporting professional artists as well as art and art history students who demonstrate exceptional creative ability in their chosen discipline. Applications are now being accepted for the 2021-22 fellowship program. Click hereto apply.
Call For Entries, Artist/Writers: Cover Art For Academic Medicine
Deadline: December 30 Submit original works of art inspired by, but not necessarily representative of, an academic medicine experience from any perspective: caregiver, researcher, teacher, learner, or patient (for example, learning how to be a physician or scientist, caring for patients, exploring research questions, making a new discovery, being a research participant, teaching, or being cared for in a teaching hospital). The journal welcomes photography, sculpture, painting, textile work, and other visual media. Images may be cropped or resized to fit into the allotted cover space. Artists must also submit a related Cover Art essay as a narrative companion to the artwork, to explain the connection between the work and the “academic medicine experience.” Learn more here.
Ongoing: These opportunities have rolling deadlines.
Alterwork Studios Online Residency
This residency was designed to give emerging contemporary artists an online platform to create new work and explore their practice. Over the course of four weeks, artists will be encouraged to experiment and explore their concepts and move their work forward in the contemporary art world. Learn more here.
Accepting Artwork for Curatorial Review by AIWA
The Alper Initiative for Washington Art features five exhibitions per year in the newly constructed first floor space in the American University Museum. We accept submissions, on a rolling basis, from Washington artists of all ages and backgrounds, and working in diverse media. The museum’s Director and Curator, Jack Rasmussen, will select curators who will review these submissions for potential use in Alper Initiative exhibitions. For more information click here.
Call For Entry Hamilton Arts Collective Guest Artist Exhibition – Baltimore
The Hamilton Arts Collective (HAC) and the Hamilton Gallery seek applications from artists for month-long Guest Artist exhibitions at Hamilton Gallery located at 5502 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD. The selected guest artists will be invited to exhibit a selection of their current work in Gallery I of the Hamilton Gallery. The Guest Artist exhibition is featured in Hamilton Gallery communications and will be promoted by the HAC and Hamilton Gallery. This is an open call to artists residing within 60 miles of Baltimore City. Baltimore residents are encouraged to apply. Click here to learn more.
Howard County Arts Council Quarterly Call For Artists – Ellicott City, MD
The Howard County Arts Council gallery program was established to enhance the public’s appreciation of the visual arts, provide a venue to exhibit the work of local, regional, and national artists in a professional space, and provide leadership in the arts by presenting a broad spectrum of arts in all media from both emerging and established artists. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group. Proposals from curators and arts organizations are also welcome. Click here to learn more.
Exhibit at Hotel Indigo Downtown Baltimore — Baltimore, MD
The Maryland Art Place (MAP) is working with Hotel Indigo in downtown Baltimore to offer rotating exhibitions in the hotel’s library and Poets Modern Cocktails and Eats restaurant. This opportunity is open to visual artists living or working in Maryland. ’s public art partnership projects (MAP), in partnership with Hotel Indigo, is pleased to announce an open call to artists. MAP will curate four exhibitions a year based on submissions entered through a rolling basis. Click here to learn more.
Solo or Group Shows in Athenaeum Gallery – VA
The Athenaeum Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia exhibits visual arts created solely by artists living or working in the region (DC, Maryland and Virginia) and strives to present visitors with a wide variety of excellent art and unique experiences. In addition to the shows curated by the Gallery Director, the Athenaeum Gallery invites artists and curators to submit show proposals. For more information, visit https://artist.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=6876.
The Creativity Grant Program State of Maryland (MD)
Deadline: Rolling. The purpose of the Creativity Grant Program is to strengthen the vitality and sustainability of artists and small organizations to maintain a strong and stable arts infrastructure in the State of Maryland. The Creativity Grant also provides opportunities to serve the growing needs of relevant arts projects and collaborations within Maryland communities. For more information regarding eligibility and funding timelines, please review the Creativity Grants Guidelines. For more information about the program, and to apply visit the Creativity Grant Program State of Maryland website.
Artist/Writers: Cover Art for Academic Medicine
Deadline: Rolling. Submit original works of art inspired by, but not necessarily representative of, an academic medicine experience from any perspective: caregiver, researcher, teacher, learner, or patient (for example, learning how to be a physician or scientist, caring for patients, exploring research questions, making a new discovery, being a research participant, teaching, or being cared for in a teaching hospital). The journal welcomes photography, sculpture, painting, textile work, and other visual media. Images may be cropped or resized to fit into the allotted cover space. Artists must also submit a related Cover Art essay as a narrative companion to the artwork, to explain the connection between the work and the “academic medicine experience.” The related narrative should be 250 to 600 words and is subject to editing. To apply for this opportunity, and to learn more, visit the Academic Medicine website.
The Awesome Foundation Accepting Applications for Art Projects
Deadline: Open. The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences is a worldwide network of people devoted to forwarding the interest of “awesomeness in the universe.” Established in 2009, the foundation distributes $1,000 grants on a monthly basis to projects and their creators. The money is pooled from ten or more self-organizing “micro-trustees.” The chapters are autonomous and organized by the trustees around geographic areas or topics of interest. Apply on the Awesome Foundation website.
Call for Artists: Maryland Art Place Seeks Proposals for Rotating Exhibition Partnership with Baltimore’s Hotel Indigo (MD)
Deadline: rolling. Maryland Art Place (MAP), in partnership with Hotel Indigo is pleased to announce an open ‘Call to Artists’. As an extension of MAP’s annual IMPACT public art partnership projects, MAP is working with Hotel Indigo to offer rotating exhibitions in Hotel indigo’s library and Poets Modern Cocktails and Eats. This opportunity is available to visual artists living or working in Maryland. Maryland Art Place will curate four exhibitions a year based on submissions entered through a rolling basis. Guidelines and information here.
Peripheral ARTeries – Biennial Contemporary Art Publication
Deadline: Rolling. Peripheral ARTeries is looking for artists to be featured in the new special Biennial Edition of their art publication, that comes to its 10th edition. This opportunity is great for both established and early career artists who need a boost to their artist portfolio. The 10th edition will once again explore and show current trends and tendencies in Contemporary Art: Peripheral ARTeries cultivates a spirit of openness through a unique collaborative and participatory approach.Each artist may submit a maximum of three works or projects made in any technique: painting, drawing, video art, experimental cinema, fine art photography, experimental media, mixed media, installations, public art, performance. The call is open to all proposed kind of art and media capable of challenging the viewers’ traditional perspective on art itself. To submit, visit the Peripheral ARTeries website.
Exhibit at Hotel Indigo (VA)
Artists works will displayed in the hotel’s gallery (220 S Union St, Old Town Alexandria) for a six-month period. Two-dimensional, framed works only. Artists will install the work using the hotel’s mounting hardware. Labels will be provided by the hotel. All sales handled by artist, no commission. Preference for local or locally influenced selections but not required. The space measures approximately 7’10” by 8’3.″ If interested, contact Kate Ellis, General Manager, [email protected].
The New Project Studio – Ongoing Opportunity (VA)
Ongoing. Located in Studio 8, the New Project Studio is a community-focused arts incubator space that offers a short-term location to test new program ideas, spotlight underrepresented voices, and enhance community engagement. Projects rotate on a regular basis. For more information, clickhere.
Public Arts Grants & Opportunities (VA)
Ongoing. The City of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts provides grants for nonprofit arts organizations as well as individual artists. See all current opportunities and online applications here.
Residency: Maryland
Deadline: ongoing. Montgomery College, Rockville and Germantown Art Department is seeking proposals for its Artist-in-Residence Program, encouraging proposals that cultivate collaborative work between artists and students.
Looking for artists: Foundry Gallery (DC)
Deadline: ongoing. Foundry Gallery is seeking a few artists in the greater Washington, DC area. If interested in applying for membership please send up to five images (jpg attachments) and an email letter to: [email protected]. The oldest cooperative in Washington, the gallery holds monthly solo and members’ group shows at its beautiful space north of Shaw near the 9:30 Club.
Looking for artists: Printmakers (DC)
Deadline: ongoing. Washington Printmakers Gallery is seeking artist members specializing in printmaking, photography and book arts. An active cooperative for over 30 years, the gallery holds monthly solo and members’ group shows in its lovely space in upper Georgetown. Distant and shared memberships are available. If interested in applying for membership please email [email protected].
"Peonies and Oranges" by Peter Ulrich received an Honorable Mention Award in the July 2020 Open Exhibit.
Welcome to Artful Weekend, our guide to fun and interesting ways to enjoy and engage in art as you shelter-in-place or practice social distancing.
This weekend: Kindred artists, fantastical cherry blossoms, The Met’s free art books, and more!
Kindred Spirits
Cintia Cabib interviews Lilian Thomas Burwell at her home in Highland Beach, Maryland. Photo by John Z. Wetmore.
Artist Hilda Wilkinson and her niece Lilian Thomas Burwell, also an artist, endured the hardships of the Great Depression and inequities of segregation in their native Washington, D.C., and became accomplished artists and educators. Filmmaker Cintia Cabib explores their unique relationship in her documentary Kindred Spirits, airing on Sunday, July 19, at 5:30 p.m. on Howard University’s WHUT public television station.
Lebanon Then and Now: Photography from 2006 to 2020
“Revolution in Lebanon” by Marwan Tahtah
This immersive exhibit on view at the Middle East Institute’s online gallery features works by 17 of Lebanon’s most exciting art and documentary photographers who have chronicled the troubled calm that presaged the country’s current storm, and of the struggle for greater social justice and democracy that continues to this day.
Hanami : Behind the Bloom
Artechouse has reopened with the continuation of Hanami: Behind the Bloom, the vibrantly interactive installation on view before the citywide shutdown. Based on the illustrations of artist Yuko Shimizu, it blends art with technology in a modern take of the honored Japanese floral tradition; see it through September 7 at Artechouse, 1238 Maryland Avenue, S.W.
Art by the Book
One of hundreds of Met-published books that you can download for free.
The next time you are looking to for a great art history read, skip Amazon and go straight to The Metropolitan Museum of Art website. There you will find hundreds of Met published titles, spanning five decades, that you can download or read online—for free! Here are ten to get you started.
Artists Talks
In her eponymously titled podcast, singer and composer Helga Davis has engaging and insightful conversations with musicians, artists, writers, and other creatives about their life’s work. Catch recent episodes with musician and activist Judy Collins, poet Elizabeth Alexander, and visual artist and colorist Stanley Whitney.
July 2020 Open Exhibit Best-in-Show Award winner Kay Walsh.
by Haven Ashley
Turning Over a New Leaf, Kay Walsh’s Best-in-Show Award-winning painting for the July 2020 Open Exhibit, is a model of graphic mark making at its best. Equal parts linear and whimsical, with creeping leaves woven into a geometric landscape, it is the fever dream of an eclectic botanist or wild architect.
“Turning Over a New Leaf”
Walsh’s painting delights and beguiles the eye with overlapping graphic shapes and sly botanical forms in a complex color palette of lavender, khaki, robin’s egg, and gray acrylics. The painting was the beginning of a new experiment, which Walsh calls her “hard edge series,” named for the straight, precise, defined edges of the shapes. “They don’t blend or transfer from one color to the other, they stop and start,” she commented of the rigid patchwork of angles, each indifferent from the other shapes, and from the graceful meandering leaves. “I take abstract shapes and mix them with recognizable objects, like the leaves that peek through here and there. It’s not supposed to make logical sense.”
Walsh has a background in graphic design from running her own advertising agency in Alexandria, Virginia. “I can’t go a day without creating—even if it’s just creating a salad,” she said, laughing. “Everyday I want to make something. It’s just in me.”
Even during difficult times, creativity persists. Throughout this period of social distancing, we will begin our listing with opportunities that uniquely address the coronavirus pandemic—be they calls for art that specifically speaks to it, or virtual exhibits that are cropping up as a result of it. Some have definitive deadlines and others are more flexible, so be sure to check guidelines carefully. We encourage you to share these and other opportunities with your creative circle.
Opportunities in Response to COVID-19
Call For Entries, Art During the Time of COVID-19 – Arbutus, MD
Deadline: July 24 Art can heal, art can save lives, and art can bring us together even while we are apart. Oca Mocha invites submissions of your creative endeavors during the time of this pandemic. Email [email protected] with “OCA Mocha – Art During the Time of COVID-19” as the subject line for submission details.
Athenaeum Call For Entries for A Very Weird Time
Deadline: August 14 Artists are invited to submit works that represent the full gamut of how the global coronavirus pandemic and its associated social distancing has affected them. Fear, uncertainty, anger and doubt are certainly typical responses but we are also interested in evidence of the creative benefits of solitude and reflection and the time to process them. For more information click here.
Las Laguna Gallery
Deadline: September 31 In response to COVID-19, Las Laguna Gallery has launched its first online exhibition of art in all media, “A Light in the Darkness.” All submissions will be accepted and posted in an online gallery. Click here to learn more.
COVID-19 Artist Residency Project
Deadline: January 1, 2021 COVID-19 Artist Residency Project is an In-Place Residency that was launched in May 2020 to help creatives reframe their time during the Pandemic as an opportunity for self-exploration. The non-competitive residency is free to apply. All creative disciplines welcome. Learn more here.
Call for Submissions: Queer Art Workers Reflect on Pride Amid COVID-19
Cognizant of the need to stay connected and elevate queer voices amid a climate of uncertainty, Hyperallergic is commemorating Pride Month by featuring one queer art worker per day on our website and asking them to reflect on what this time means to them. This series is meant to build on last year’s Queer Artists in Their Own Words. We encourage queer artists, curators, arts educators, filmmakers, programmers, conservators, and administrators from across the art world to join us. Click here to learn more.
A View From the Easel Call For Submissions
Temporarily, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, Hyperallergic is asking artists to share their experiences of their studios during times of quarantine for their “View From the Easel” section. For more information click here.
Artists Against an #Infodemic Call For Artists
The visual media organizations CatchLight, Dysturb, and The Everyday Projects are seeking submissions for visual art and storytelling that addresses key public health messages in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Formats can include: photography, video, cartoons/comics, graphic design, paintings, drawings, memes, and more. We will work with the selected artists to package the material for distribution on social media and for display in public spaces as murals and/or projections. For more information click here.
The Corona Portrait Project Call For Submissions
For tens of thousands of artists around the world, in a matter of weeks the novel coronavirus has caused the loss of exhibitions, projects, side gigs, and left much uncertainty behind. As we sit isolated at home and consider our fears and hopes for the future, this project is a challenge to confront ourselves by creating a self-portrait. A new artist will be featured weekly. For more information, click here.
Downtown Baltimore Partnership Call For Artists – Baltimore
The #ArtOfBaltimore campaign was launched to help support local artists and spark positive energy as we adjust to the economic and cultural impact of the COVID-19 virus. Selected works by local artists will appear on digital signage throughout Downtown Baltimore, and artist will receive a licensing fee and additional promotion of their work on DPOB social media channels. For more information click here.
Insider Art Fair Call For Submissions
In response to our extraordinary circumstances, the Willow Street Gallery is seeking artwork from local artists to showcase on our digital platforms for an online exhibition titled “Insider Art Fair.” This exhibition allows us at the WSG to continue our mission to provide a platform for local and emerging artists, and make meaningful connections while the community remains indoors and isolated. Click hereto learn more.
Social Distance Gallery For Thesis Exhibitions
Social Distance Gallery is posting BFA and MFA thesis exhibitions that are canceled or limited in access due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital exhibitions will be hosted on Instagram at @socialdistancegallery. Click here for submission instructions.
Amplifier’s Global Open Call For Art
In response to COVID-19, Amplifier is launching an emergency campaign with top art curators and public-health advisors from around the world. They are looking for public health and safety messages that can help flatten the curve through education, and symbols that help promote mental health, well-being, and social change work during these stressful times. Click here for more information.
Other Opportunities
Call For Submissions, American Muslim Futures – D.C.
Deadline: July 26American Muslim Futures invites Muslim and allied / aligned artists of all mediums (visual, performing, literary, fashion, etc.) to help realize a country free of hate and oppression. We’re asking you to create the images, songs, poems, fashions, plays, performances, and cultures of this America free of hate and oppression. Up to 20 artists will receive $600 and be showcased in this official digital exhibit, opening portals for us to follow into a better tomorrow. Learn more here.
New Jersey Division of Taxation 2D Art Purchase – Trenton, NJ
Deadline: July 26 The New Jersey Taxation Building in Trenton is a newly constructed office building in the State Capital Complex, which will house the offices of the Division of Taxation. The State is seeking to purchase completed two-dimensional artwork for display in the new building. This call is open only to living New Jersey residents who are permanent residents of Mercer County, or maintain a permanent art studio address in Mercer County. For more information click here.
Calling All Emerging Artists, DC Design Week Poster Commission
Deadline: July 29 This year is a celebration of the creative voices in our community, and we want to hear yours. We’re commissioning up to five emerging artists to design a poster that we’ll print and sell on an online shop hosted by Cherry Blossom Creative. Having a final design isn’t required to apply! Learn more here.
Archival Call to Artists – D.C.
Deadline: July 31 Mehari Sequar Gallery is committed to documenting and remembering the recent global outcry against the oppression, violence and injustices perpetuated on the Black community and all minorities in the U.S. and around the globe. We are calling all creatives to contribute original digital content related to recent protests to honor the memories of victims of state violence. We would like to acquire your photographs, audio and video content, protest art, articles, news reports, op-Ed’s, diaries, and other digital memorabilia to mark this seminal moment through a digital archival exhibition. Click here for more information.
Open Call For Submissions, Black Life Matter Group Show – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: August 1 Carrie Able Gallery seeks artist submissions for a group show on the Black Lives Matter movement. Work can be introspective artwork, protest art, documentary photography. All modes of expression welcome. free to submit please send 3 images with information about the work to [email protected]. Learn more here.
Creators Wanted For DC Design Week Maker Directory – DC
Deadline: August 5 DC is full of creators who craft art, jewelry, home goods, ceramics, furniture, and more. In September, we’ll be launching a directory of makers on dcdesignweek.org to help folks in our region (and around the world!) find awesome people doing awesome things. Whether you have an online shop or brick-and-mortar, we want to show the world the amazing things you make. If you’re interested, apply here.
Invitation to Artisans, Carroll Creek Kinetic Art Promenade – Frederick, MD
Deadline: August 14 Carroll Creek Kinetic Art Promenade invites regional artisans and teams of collaborative regional artisans living within 80 miles of Frederick, MD to submit their designs for review. By participating in Carroll Creek Kinetic Art Promenade, you’ll add to the vibrancy and beauty of Downtown Frederick and contribute much to its artistic fabric! Click hereto apply.
Deadline: August 23 The Kay Daugherty Gallery at Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center will showcase artworks that reinvent and reconsider recognizable works of art and popular culture icons through a contemporary lens. Artists are encouraged to submit works that speak to contemporary culture, current events, or envision the “new normal.” For more information, click here.
See My Color: A Social Justice Call for Art
Deadline: August 30 The Women’s Caucus for Art of Greater Washington, DC invites members of the National Women’s Caucus for Art to submit artwork for a juried online exhibition titled See My Color, WCADC’s Social Justice Art Exhibition. “See My Color” will explore artists’ relationships with racial injustice, police brutality, and criminal justice reform through visual art. Click here for more information.
Open Call For Public Programs – D.C.
Deadline: October 1 Hamiltonian Artists is launching a new initiative of public programming, Platform, that positions the organization as a hub for conversation amongst practitioners. For the first season, now through the Presidential election on November 3, we invite artists, independent curators and organizers, organizations, and others to submit a proposal for a public program that specifically addresses racial justice, social justice movements and practices, collective action, and other conversations that intersect with the arts. Learn more here.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities FY2021 Public Art Building Communities (PABC) Grant Program – D.C.
Deadline: July 17 The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) invites submissions for its fiscal year 2021 Public Art Building Communities (PABC) grant program from eligible individuals and nonprofit organizations, including registered DC Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and designated D.C. Main Streets organizations. The PABC grant program awards project funding to support individual artists and nonprofit organizations in their effort to design, fabricate and install new temporary or permanent works of public art that connect artists and artworks to the community. Learn more here.
SEEN: 20 Years of Baltimore Music Photography – Baltimore
Deadline: July 18 SEEN: 20 Years of Baltimore Music Photography will highlight photography, as well as video, show posters, and ephemera that relates to the past 20 years of Baltimore music history. The show will feature local musicians and creators from all musical genres and backgrounds. The goal is to present a comprehensive and culturally inclusive overview of Baltimore’s vibrant music scenes from the year 2000 through 2020 by showcasing as many different genres, cultures, and forms of representation as possible. Learn more here.
Call to Artists: Paint It! Ellicott City 2020 – Ellicott City, Maryland
Deadline: July 23 Paint It! Ellicott City is an annual event that brings artists and spectators interested in the plein air tradition to Ellicott City. Both juried and open paint artists set up their easels around the historic district, enjoying a summer weekend as they capture the picturesque mill town and all its charms. The event culminates in an exhibit of juried artists’ work in our gallery, which features an opening reception and juror’s award presentation. For more information click here.
Call For Applications, Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Awards
Deadline: July 24 Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Awards (IAAs) recognizes achievement by Maryland artists making work independent of an institution or organization. In 2021 IAAs will recognize artists in the Visual/Media Arts. Learn more here.
Artist Relief Grants Call For Applications
Deadline: July 31 To support artists during the COVID-19 crisis, a coalition of national arts grant makers have come together to create an emergency initiative to offer financial and informational resources to artists across the United States. Click here to apply.
Call For Submissions: Outdoor Sculpture for Ramapo College of NJ Learning Commons – Mawwah, NJ
Deadline: August 3 Ramapo College of New Jersey is soliciting Expressions of Interest (“EOI”) from prospective artists to design, fabricate and install artwork for the Learning Commons at its Mahwah, New Jersey campus. The proposed artwork for the building is part of the New Jersey Arts Inclusion Program and is coordinated by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Ramapo College. Learn more here.
Sea of Change Mid-Atlantic 2020 Call For Submissions Extension Virginia Beach, VA
Deadline: August 3 There is beauty in all the waterways that surround us, but our climate is changing and perhaps our lives as well. The Virginia Beach Art Center invites artists from South Carolina to Pennsylvania to submit to our a showcase of all media artwork from the Mid-Atlantic that celebrates our present and warns of our future. For more information click here.
The Grand Exhibition, An Open Art Competition: Embodying Masonic Values – Philadelphia
Deadline: August 6 All artwork entries must display a visual interpretation of some aspect of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, whether it be philosophical, historical, scientific, social, fraternal, charitable, architectural, etc. Selected artwork will be exhibited in the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia. For more information click here.
D.C. Commission on the Arts FY21 Art Bank Program Request for Applications – DC
Deadline: August 7 The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) invites submissions from qualified artists and District art galleries or District nonprofit organizations representing metropolitan artists for the acquisition of works of original two- and three-dimensional artworks for its Fiscal Year 2021 Art Bank Program. Award amounts vary; the total grant award will not exceed $10,000.The grant period is from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021. Learn how to apply here.
Call for Artists: Eighth Annual Eastern West Virginia Juried Exhibit – Martinsburg, WV
Deadline: August 12 The Berkeley Arts Council in Martinsburg, West Virginia announces the Eighth Annual Eastern West Virginia Juried Exhibit, to be displayed in the Berkeley Art Works Gallery. The exhibit is open to artists in all media who reside in one of the eight counties that compose what is known as the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. For more information click here.
Summer 2020 Surreal Photography Competition – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: August 15 For the strange and unusual; visual intriguing; and mentally stimulating. Mobius Photo is an online platform dedicated to the curation of emerging and established photographers through competitions. Submissions are open for 3.5 month periods. Winners are announced 2 weeks after the closing date. Selected works live on the website for the following year. Click here to apply.
Call For Proposals: F.E.A.S.T. 2020 at VisArts – Rockville, MD
Deadline: August 30 F.E.A.S.T. (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) 2020 encourages artists, thinkers, and organizations to expand their everyday practice and create project proposals that address the theme of A More Than Human World. Imaginative, sustainable, and provocative projects that explore and make visible a more-than-human perspective are welcome! F.E.A.S.T. 2020 advocates for proposals that join art with social, cultural, political, economic, historic, and environmental dynamics. Imaginings, actions, performances, dance, theater, writing, visual art, walks, physical and virtual, analog or digital, and beyond. For more information click here.
Call For Entries, Aesthetica Art Prize 2020
Deadline: August 31 Since its establishment ten years ago, the Aesthetica Magazine Art Prize has provided a platform for artists across the globe to showcase their work through publication, exhibition, prize money and wider exposure. Aesthetica is looking for artists redefining the parameters of contemporary art. The Prize is open to multiple genres including photography, sculpture, installation, digital media, video, painting and more. To enter click here.
Council on Virginia Tech History Seeks Public Art for University’s Sesquicentennial – Blacksburg, VA
Deadline: August 31 The Council on Virginia Tech History has initiated a call for public art in preparation for the university’s sesquicentennial in 2022. The call, “Understanding Our Complicated Past and Reconnecting with Our Layered Histories: An International Ideas Competition,” seeks proposals for creative approaches to highlight how historically marginalized communities have shaped and will continue to shape Virginia Tech. The winning art pieces will be featured at the university’s oldest structures, Solitude and the Fraction Family House, which were part of the grounds of a former plantation owned by the Preston family. The Solitude House was occupied by the family, and the Fraction Family House is the only remaining structure for housing those enslaved by the Prestons. Proposals for all forms of art, from virtual to physical and everything in between, are highly encouraged. Learn more here.
Call For Entries, Practice What You Teach – Virginia Beach, VA
Deadline: September 1 Virginia’s K-12 Art Educators have an opportunity to show off their own artwork and vie for prizes worth a total of $2000! Virginia Beach Art Center is presenting this states-wide expression of loving what you teach. Learn how to enter here.
Greenwood Cemetery Artist-In-Residence 2021 – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: September 2 This nine-month-long residency (January– September 2021) will offer one artist the opportunity to create a new project or body of work inspired by beautiful natural landscape, stunning monuments, and compelling history. The residency is open to emerging or mid-career artists residing in New York City and working in the visual and/or performing arts. Learn more here.
Call For Entries, Focus National Juried Photography Exhibition – Frederick, MD
Deadline: September 28 The National Juried Photography Exhibition is held biennially in November at The Delaplaine Arts Center as part of Focus, our month-long celebration of photography. All photographs, black & white, color, non-silver, computer-manipulated, digital, or pinhole are eligible. Learn more here.
Bennett Prize Call For Entries, Women Figurative Painters
Deadline: October 16 The Bennett Prize, created in 2018, awards $50,000 to a woman artist to create her own solo exhibition of figurative realist paintings, which will travel the country. The Prize will propel the careers of women painters who have not yet realized full professional recognition, empowering new artists and those who have painted for many years. The Prize will expand opportunities for the public, who may not be familiar with figurative realist painting, to learn more about the creative vision of talented women painters in this increasingly popular genre. Apply here.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts 2021-22 Fellowship Program – Richmond, VA
Deadline: November 6 The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship (VMFA) Program, a vital source of funding for the visual arts and art history in Virginia, is committed to supporting professional artists as well as art and art history students who demonstrate exceptional creative ability in their chosen discipline. Applications are now being accepted for the 2021-22 fellowship program. Click hereto apply.
Call For Entries, Artist/Writers: Cover Art For Academic Medicine
Deadline: December 30 Submit original works of art inspired by, but not necessarily representative of, an academic medicine experience from any perspective: caregiver, researcher, teacher, learner, or patient (for example, learning how to be a physician or scientist, caring for patients, exploring research questions, making a new discovery, being a research participant, teaching, or being cared for in a teaching hospital). The journal welcomes photography, sculpture, painting, textile work, and other visual media. Images may be cropped or resized to fit into the allotted cover space. Artists must also submit a related Cover Art essay as a narrative companion to the artwork, to explain the connection between the work and the “academic medicine experience.” Learn more here.
Ongoing: These opportunities have rolling deadlines.
Accepting Artwork for Curatorial Review by AIWA
The Alper Initiative for Washington Art features five exhibitions per year in the newly constructed first floor space in the American University Museum. We accept submissions, on a rolling basis, from Washington artists of all ages and backgrounds, and working in diverse media. The museum’s Director and Curator, Jack Rasmussen, will select curators who will review these submissions for potential use in Alper Initiative exhibitions. For more information click here.
Call For Entry Hamilton Arts Collective Guest Artist Exhibition – Baltimore
The Hamilton Arts Collective (HAC) and the Hamilton Gallery seek applications from artists for month-long Guest Artist exhibitions at Hamilton Gallery located at 5502 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD. The selected guest artists will be invited to exhibit a selection of their current work in Gallery I of the Hamilton Gallery. The Guest Artist exhibition is featured in Hamilton Gallery communications and will be promoted by the HAC and Hamilton Gallery. This is an open call to artists residing within 60 miles of Baltimore City. Baltimore residents are encouraged to apply. Click here to learn more.
Howard County Arts Council Quarterly Call For Artists – Ellicott City, MD
The Howard County Arts Council gallery program was established to enhance the public’s appreciation of the visual arts, provide a venue to exhibit the work of local, regional, and national artists in a professional space, and provide leadership in the arts by presenting a broad spectrum of arts in all media from both emerging and established artists. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group. Proposals from curators and arts organizations are also welcome. Click here to learn more.
Exhibit at Hotel Indigo Downtown Baltimore — Baltimore, MD
The Maryland Art Place (MAP) is working with Hotel Indigo in downtown Baltimore to offer rotating exhibitions in the hotel’s library and Poets Modern Cocktails and Eats restaurant. This opportunity is open to visual artists living or working in Maryland. ’s public art partnership projects (MAP), in partnership with Hotel Indigo, is pleased to announce an open call to artists. MAP will curate four exhibitions a year based on submissions entered through a rolling basis. Click here to learn more.
Solo or Group Shows in Athenaeum Gallery – VA
The Athenaeum Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia exhibits visual arts created solely by artists living or working in the region (DC, Maryland and Virginia) and strives to present visitors with a wide variety of excellent art and unique experiences. In addition to the shows curated by the Gallery Director, the Athenaeum Gallery invites artists and curators to submit show proposals. For more information, visit https://artist.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=6876.
The Creativity Grant Program State of Maryland (MD)
Deadline: Rolling. The purpose of the Creativity Grant Program is to strengthen the vitality and sustainability of artists and small organizations to maintain a strong and stable arts infrastructure in the State of Maryland. The Creativity Grant also provides opportunities to serve the growing needs of relevant arts projects and collaborations within Maryland communities. For more information regarding eligibility and funding timelines, please review the Creativity Grants Guidelines. For more information about the program, and to apply visit the Creativity Grant Program State of Maryland website.
Artist/Writers: Cover Art for Academic Medicine
Deadline: Rolling. Submit original works of art inspired by, but not necessarily representative of, an academic medicine experience from any perspective: caregiver, researcher, teacher, learner, or patient (for example, learning how to be a physician or scientist, caring for patients, exploring research questions, making a new discovery, being a research participant, teaching, or being cared for in a teaching hospital). The journal welcomes photography, sculpture, painting, textile work, and other visual media. Images may be cropped or resized to fit into the allotted cover space. Artists must also submit a related Cover Art essay as a narrative companion to the artwork, to explain the connection between the work and the “academic medicine experience.” The related narrative should be 250 to 600 words and is subject to editing. To apply for this opportunity, and to learn more, visit the Academic Medicine website.
The Awesome Foundation Accepting Applications for Art Projects
Deadline: Open. The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences is a worldwide network of people devoted to forwarding the interest of “awesomeness in the universe.” Established in 2009, the foundation distributes $1,000 grants on a monthly basis to projects and their creators. The money is pooled from ten or more self-organizing “micro-trustees.” The chapters are autonomous and organized by the trustees around geographic areas or topics of interest. Apply on the Awesome Foundation website.
Call for Artists: Maryland Art Place Seeks Proposals for Rotating Exhibition Partnership with Baltimore’s Hotel Indigo (MD)
Deadline: rolling. Maryland Art Place (MAP), in partnership with Hotel Indigo is pleased to announce an open ‘Call to Artists’. As an extension of MAP’s annual IMPACT public art partnership projects, MAP is working with Hotel Indigo to offer rotating exhibitions in Hotel indigo’s library and Poets Modern Cocktails and Eats. This opportunity is available to visual artists living or working in Maryland. Maryland Art Place will curate four exhibitions a year based on submissions entered through a rolling basis. Guidelines and information here.
Peripheral ARTeries – Biennial Contemporary Art Publication
Deadline: Rolling. Peripheral ARTeries is looking for artists to be featured in the new special Biennial Edition of their art publication, that comes to its 10th edition. This opportunity is great for both established and early career artists who need a boost to their artist portfolio. The 10th edition will once again explore and show current trends and tendencies in Contemporary Art: Peripheral ARTeries cultivates a spirit of openness through a unique collaborative and participatory approach.Each artist may submit a maximum of three works or projects made in any technique: painting, drawing, video art, experimental cinema, fine art photography, experimental media, mixed media, installations, public art, performance. The call is open to all proposed kind of art and media capable of challenging the viewers’ traditional perspective on art itself. To submit, visit the Peripheral ARTeries website.
Exhibit at Hotel Indigo (VA)
Artists works will displayed in the hotel’s gallery (220 S Union St, Old Town Alexandria) for a six-month period. Two-dimensional, framed works only. Artists will install the work using the hotel’s mounting hardware. Labels will be provided by the hotel. All sales handled by artist, no commission. Preference for local or locally influenced selections but not required. The space measures approximately 7’10” by 8’3.″ If interested, contact Kate Ellis, General Manager, [email protected].
The New Project Studio – Ongoing Opportunity (VA)
Ongoing. Located in Studio 8, the New Project Studio is a community-focused arts incubator space that offers a short-term location to test new program ideas, spotlight underrepresented voices, and enhance community engagement. Projects rotate on a regular basis. For more information, clickhere.
Public Arts Grants & Opportunities (VA)
Ongoing. The City of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts provides grants for nonprofit arts organizations as well as individual artists. See all current opportunities and online applications here.
Residency: Maryland
Deadline: ongoing. Montgomery College, Rockville and Germantown Art Department is seeking proposals for its Artist-in-Residence Program, encouraging proposals that cultivate collaborative work between artists and students.
Looking for artists: Foundry Gallery (DC)
Deadline: ongoing. Foundry Gallery is seeking a few artists in the greater Washington, DC area. If interested in applying for membership please send up to five images (jpg attachments) and an email letter to: [email protected]. The oldest cooperative in Washington, the gallery holds monthly solo and members’ group shows at its beautiful space north of Shaw near the 9:30 Club.
Looking for artists: Printmakers (DC)
Deadline: ongoing. Washington Printmakers Gallery is seeking artist members specializing in printmaking, photography and book arts. An active cooperative for over 30 years, the gallery holds monthly solo and members’ group shows in its lovely space in upper Georgetown. Distant and shared memberships are available. If interested in applying for membership please email [email protected].
Welcome to Artful Weekend, our guide to fun and interesting ways to enjoy and engage in art as you shelter-in-place or practice social distancing.
This weekend: Our July Open Exhibit, public art fun, the pioneering photographers of Kamoinge Workshop, and more!
July Open Exhibit 2020
July Open Exhibit 2020 Best-In-Show Award winner “Turning Over a New Leaf” by Kay Walsh
The Art League Open Exhibitions are great testaments to the varied styles and mediums of League member artists. See our current July Open Exhibit, juried by artist consultant and Dazed & Confucius founder Pennylane Shen, and purchase artwork from it and other recent shows at our online shop.
Public Art Explorer
“Reston Rondo” by Mary Ann Mears
Reston, Virginia, is rich in public art, but you don’t have to live there to appreciate it. Public Art Reston just launched Public Art Explorer, a series of fun and engaging activity packets for young and older art lovers alike. Each downloadable packet introduces a key theme inspired by the artists and their outdoor creations along with fun facts, drawing exercises, and ideas for exploring public art. The program’s first featured artists are Valerie Theberge, Mary Ann Mears, and Gonzalo Fonseca, with more to come.
2020 Solo Exhibition: Tai Hwa Goh
“2020 Solo Exhibition: Tai Hwa Goh” at Target Gallery
Korean-born artist Tai Hwa Goh merges printmaking and sculpture for her site-specific installations. Her current solo exhibit at Target Gallery—kinetic paper sculptures that bloom and warp over time with human interaction—explores historical, sociological, and psychological influences that have shaped floristry and human desire to mold it; on view through July 26 at Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory, 105 N. Union Street, Alexandria, VA. Bonus: Try Tai Hwa Goh’s DIY Art Installation Project at home!
Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop
Kamoinge Group Portrait (detail), 1973, Anthony Barboza
In 1963 a group of African American photographers based in New York came together to form the Kamoinge Workshop. Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop, online at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, explores the impact of this remarkable group of artists on the history of photography in the latter part of the twentieth century, and features more than 150 photographs by Richmond-born cofounder Louis Draper and its other noted members.
Virtual Views: Video Lives
A scene from “Another Day of a Housewife” by Mako Idemitsu, is one of seven video art pieces featured in MoMA’s “Virtual Views: Video Lives.”
As our lives have moved online to an unprecedented degree during the current pandemic, and as social movements are ignited by the mass circulation of video footage from smartphones and Bodycams, New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) looks back at artists who’ve worked with the electronic image, many for decades. Virtual Views: Video Lives, seven videos from MoMA’s collection, considers how artists have responded to the invasion of the camera into intimate spaces of work and life, spanning early experiments of pioneering artists like Joan Jonas to a recent video opus by Martine Syms.
Even during difficult times, creativity persists. Throughout this period of social distancing, we will begin our listing with opportunities that uniquely address the coronavirus pandemic—be they calls for art that specifically speaks to it, or virtual exhibits that are cropping up as a result of it. Some have definitive deadlines and others are more flexible, so be sure to check guidelines carefully. We encourage you to share these and other opportunities with your creative circle.
Opportunities in Response to COVID-19
Call For Entries, Art During the Time of COVID-19 – Arbutus, MD
Deadline: July 24 Art can heal, art can save lives, and art can bring us together even while we are apart. Oca Mocha invites submissions of your creative endeavors during the time of this pandemic. Email [email protected] with “OCA Mocha – Art During the Time of COVID-19” as the subject line for submission details.
Athenaeum Call For Entries for A Very Weird Time
Deadline: August 14 Artists are invited to submit works that represent the full gamut of how the global coronavirus pandemic and its associated social distancing has affected them. Fear, uncertainty, anger and doubt are certainly typical responses but we are also interested in evidence of the creative benefits of solitude and reflection and the time to process them. For more information click here.
Las Laguna Gallery
Deadline: September 31 In response to COVID-19, Las Laguna Gallery has launched its first online exhibition of art in all media, “A Light in the Darkness.” All submissions will be accepted and posted in an online gallery. Click here to learn more.
COVID-19 Artist Residency Project
Deadline: January 1, 2021 COVID-19 Artist Residency Project is an In-Place Residency that was launched in May 2020 to help creatives reframe their time during the Pandemic as an opportunity for self-exploration. The non-competitive residency is free to apply. All creative disciplines welcome. Learn more here.
Call for Submissions: Queer Art Workers Reflect on Pride Amid COVID-19
Cognizant of the need to stay connected and elevate queer voices amid a climate of uncertainty, Hyperallergic is commemorating Pride Month by featuring one queer art worker per day on our website and asking them to reflect on what this time means to them. This series is meant to build on last year’s Queer Artists in Their Own Words. We encourage queer artists, curators, arts educators, filmmakers, programmers, conservators, and administrators from across the art world to join us. Click here to learn more.
A View From the Easel Call For Submissions
Temporarily, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, Hyperallergic is asking artists to share their experiences of their studios during times of quarantine for their “View From the Easel” section. For more information click here.
Artists Against an #Infodemic Call For Artists
The visual media organizations CatchLight, Dysturb, and The Everyday Projects are seeking submissions for visual art and storytelling that addresses key public health messages in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Formats can include: photography, video, cartoons/comics, graphic design, paintings, drawings, memes, and more. We will work with the selected artists to package the material for distribution on social media and for display in public spaces as murals and/or projections. For more information click here.
The Corona Portrait Project Call For Submissions
For tens of thousands of artists around the world, in a matter of weeks the novel coronavirus has caused the loss of exhibitions, projects, side gigs, and left much uncertainty behind. As we sit isolated at home and consider our fears and hopes for the future, this project is a challenge to confront ourselves by creating a self-portrait. A new artist will be featured weekly. For more information, click here.
Downtown Baltimore Partnership Call For Artists – Baltimore
The #ArtOfBaltimore campaign was launched to help support local artists and spark positive energy as we adjust to the economic and cultural impact of the COVID-19 virus. Selected works by local artists will appear on digital signage throughout Downtown Baltimore, and artist will receive a licensing fee and additional promotion of their work on DPOB social media channels. For more information click here.
Insider Art Fair Call For Submissions
In response to our extraordinary circumstances, the Willow Street Gallery is seeking artwork from local artists to showcase on our digital platforms for an online exhibition titled “Insider Art Fair.” This exhibition allows us at the WSG to continue our mission to provide a platform for local and emerging artists, and make meaningful connections while the community remains indoors and isolated. Click hereto learn more.
Social Distance Gallery For Thesis Exhibitions
Social Distance Gallery is posting BFA and MFA thesis exhibitions that are canceled or limited in access due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital exhibitions will be hosted on Instagram at @socialdistancegallery. Click here for submission instructions.
Amplifier’s Global Open Call For Art
In response to COVID-19, Amplifier is launching an emergency campaign with top art curators and public-health advisors from around the world. They are looking for public health and safety messages that can help flatten the curve through education, and symbols that help promote mental health, well-being, and social change work during these stressful times. Click here for more information.
Other Opportunities
Call For Entries, Aesthetica Art Prize 2020
Deadline: August 31 Since its establishment ten years ago, the Aesthetica Magazine Art Prize has provided a platform for artists across the globe to showcase their work through publication, exhibition, prize money and wider exposure. Aesthetica is looking for artists redefining the parameters of contemporary art. The Prize is open to multiple genres including photography, sculpture, installation, digital media, video, painting and more. To enter click here.
Greenwood Cemetery Artist-In-Residence 2021 – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: September 2 This nine-month-long residency (January– September 2021) will offer one artist the opportunity to create a new project or body of work inspired by beautiful natural landscape, stunning monuments, and compelling history. The residency is open to emerging or mid-career artists residing in New York City and working in the visual and/or performing arts. Learn more here.
Bennett Prize Call For Entries, Women Figurative Painters
Deadline: October 16 The Bennett Prize, created in 2018, awards $50,000 to a woman artist to create her own solo exhibition of figurative realist paintings, which will travel the country. The Prize will propel the careers of women painters who have not yet realized full professional recognition, empowering new artists and those who have painted for many years. The Prize will expand opportunities for the public, who may not be familiar with figurative realist painting, to learn more about the creative vision of talented women painters in this increasingly popular genre. Apply here.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts 2021-22 Fellowship Program – Richmond, VA
Deadline: November 6 The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship (VMFA) Program, a vital source of funding for the visual arts and art history in Virginia, is committed to supporting professional artists as well as art and art history students who demonstrate exceptional creative ability in their chosen discipline. Applications are now being accepted for the 2021-22 fellowship program. Click hereto apply.
Call For Entries, Artist/Writers: Cover Art For Academic Medicine
Deadline: December 30 Submit original works of art inspired by, but not necessarily representative of, an academic medicine experience from any perspective: caregiver, researcher, teacher, learner, or patient (for example, learning how to be a physician or scientist, caring for patients, exploring research questions, making a new discovery, being a research participant, teaching, or being cared for in a teaching hospital). The journal welcomes photography, sculpture, painting, textile work, and other visual media. Images may be cropped or resized to fit into the allotted cover space. Artists must also submit a related Cover Art essay as a narrative companion to the artwork, to explain the connection between the work and the “academic medicine experience.” Learn more here.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Call for Entry METALWORK 2020 – North Bethesda, MD
Deadline: July 9METALWORK 2020 is the 19th Biennial Juried Exhibition of work by Washington Guild of Goldsmiths members. This exhibition will be on display in the second-floor Guldesky Gallery Suite of the Mansion at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland from September 8th to October 31st, 2020. Artworks juried into METALWORK 2020 will exhibit alongside selected invited artists exhibiting as part of this year’s Exhibition Invitational showing non-jewelry works in metal. Learn more here.
Call For Art, The Space Between: Questions of Place in Times of Uncertainty – New Brunswick, NJ
Deadline: July 11 Our communities have witnessed recent economic uncertainties, shifts in identities, and dramatic transformations in our respective environments. The New York chapter of the Women’s Caucus for Art invites all self-identified women artists in the Tri-State area of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania to submit artworks for this exhibit that challenge prior assumptions on this subject to elicit a diversity of creative response and expression. For more information click here.
Call For Artists Target Gallery Exhibit – Alexandria, VA
Deadline: July 12 In My Head, In My Body, an all-media group exhibition, delves into the human psyche to explore themes surrounding mental health and its relationship to your physical heath. This exhibition will challenge common misconceptions about the topic as well as allow space for the selected artists to express their experiences, struggles, and triumphs through their work. Click here to enter.
NJ Women Vote Digital Exhibition
Deadline: July 12 The New Jersey Historical Commission is accepting letters of interest for the commissioning of digital content for its NJ Women Vote: The 19th Amendment at 100 Digital Project, part of New Jersey’s initiative to commemorate the centennial of the passage of the19th Amendment and American women achieving the right to vote. The vision of NJ Women Vote is to mark the centennial of women’s suffrage while acknowledging its inequities and the challenges New Jersey women of all backgrounds have faced and continue to confront from 1920 to the present day. This digital project seeks to engage artists and humanities scholars to create digital content that addresses the theme of voting and suffrage, particularly related to New Jersey. Individual artists or humanities scholars may apply, and teams of scholars and artists are encouraged to apply together. Priority will be given to proposals where artists and scholars partner to create the work. Click hereto apply.
Call For Submissions, 21st Annual Wills Creek Exhibition – Cumberland, MD
Deadline: July 15 The Allegany Arts Council is pleased to announce a call for entry for the 21st Annual Wills Creek Exhibition in its Saville and Schwab Galleries in downtown Cumberland, Maryland. This year’s theme is “Shelter.” Learn more here.
Outside Forces: Outsider Art Inside the Beltway 2020
Deadline: July 15 Art Enables, Washington, D.C.’s only non-profit art gallery and employment program dedicated to creating opportunities for adult visual artists with disabilities, is excited to announce our 14th annual exhibition highlighting the work of self-taught artists. Please note: this exhibition is not limited to artists with disabilities. If you identify as a self-taught or outsider artist, we’d love to see your work! Due to social distancing efforts, this year’s exhibition will take place solely online. Artists will not be required to provide physical work. Learn more here.
Call For Panelists: Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artist Award – Baltimore
Deadline: July 15 MSAC relies on a diverse array of experts from across the state of Maryland to do the important work of evaluating applications. MSAC selects IAA panelists with a focus on diversity of experiences, diversity of location, and expertise in the current year’s discipline. Panelists must be Maryland residents. For more information click here.
D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities FY2021 Public Art Building Communities (PABC) Grant Program – D.C.
Deadline: July 17 The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) invites submissions for its fiscal year 2021 Public Art Building Communities (PABC) grant program from eligible individuals and nonprofit organizations, including registered DC Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and designated D.C. Main Streets organizations. The PABC grant program awards project funding to support individual artists and nonprofit organizations in their effort to design, fabricate and install new temporary or permanent works of public art that connect artists and artworks to the community. Learn more here.
SEEN: 20 Years of Baltimore Music Photography – Baltimore
Deadline: July 18 SEEN: 20 Years of Baltimore Music Photography will highlight photography, as well as video, show posters, and ephemera that relates to the past 20 years of Baltimore music history. The show will feature local musicians and creators from all musical genres and backgrounds. The goal is to present a comprehensive and culturally inclusive overview of Baltimore’s vibrant music scenes from the year 2000 through 2020 by showcasing as many different genres, cultures, and forms of representation as possible. Learn more here.
Call to Artists: Paint It! Ellicott City 2020 – Ellicott City, Maryland
Deadline: July 23 Paint It! Ellicott City is an annual event that brings artists and spectators interested in the plein air tradition to Ellicott City. Both juried and open paint artists set up their easels around the historic district, enjoying a summer weekend as they capture the picturesque mill town and all its charms. The event culminates in an exhibit of juried artists’ work in our gallery, which features an opening reception and juror’s award presentation. For more information click here.
Call For Applications, Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Awards
Deadline: July 24 Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Awards (IAAs) recognizes achievement by Maryland artists making work independent of an institution or organization. In 2021 IAAs will recognize artists in the Visual/Media Arts. Learn more here.
Artist Relief Grants Call For Applications
Deadline: July 31 To support artists during the COVID-19 crisis, a coalition of national arts grant makers have come together to create an emergency initiative to offer financial and informational resources to artists across the United States. Click here to apply.
Call For Submissions: Outdoor Sculpture for Ramapo College of NJ Learning Commons – Mawwah, NJ
Deadline: August 3 Ramapo College of New Jersey is soliciting Expressions of Interest (“EOI”) from prospective artists to design, fabricate and install artwork for the Learning Commons at its Mahwah, New Jersey campus. The proposed artwork for the building is part of the New Jersey Arts Inclusion Program and is coordinated by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Ramapo College. Learn more here.
Sea of Change Mid-Atlantic 2020 Call For Submissions Extension Virginia Beach, VA
Deadline: August 3 There is beauty in all the waterways that surround us, but our climate is changing and perhaps our lives as well. The Virginia Beach Art Center invites artists from South Carolina to Pennsylvania to submit to our a showcase of all media artwork from the Mid-Atlantic that celebrates our present and warns of our future. For more information click here.
The Grand Exhibition, An Open Art Competition: Embodying Masonic Values – Philadelphia
Deadline: August 6 All artwork entries must display a visual interpretation of some aspect of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, whether it be philosophical, historical, scientific, social, fraternal, charitable, architectural, etc. Selected artwork will be exhibited in the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia. For more information click here.
D.C. Commission on the Arts FY21 Art Bank Program Request for Applications – DC
Deadline: August 7 The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) invites submissions from qualified artists and District art galleries or District nonprofit organizations representing metropolitan artists for the acquisition of works of original two- and three-dimensional artworks for its Fiscal Year 2021 Art Bank Program. Award amounts vary; the total grant award will not exceed $10,000.The grant period is from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021. Learn how to apply here.
Call for Artists: Eighth Annual Eastern West Virginia Juried Exhibit – Martinsburg, WV
Deadline: August 12 The Berkeley Arts Council in Martinsburg, West Virginia announces the Eighth Annual Eastern West Virginia Juried Exhibit, to be displayed in the Berkeley Art Works Gallery. The exhibit is open to artists in all media who reside in one of the eight counties that compose what is known as the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. For more information click here.
Summer 2020 Surreal Photography Competition – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: August 15 For the strange and unusual; visual intriguing; and mentally stimulating. Mobius Photo is an online platform dedicated to the curation of emerging and established photographers through competitions. Submissions are open for 3.5 month periods. Winners are announced 2 weeks after the closing date. Selected works live on the website for the following year. Click here to apply.
Call For Proposals: F.E.A.S.T. 2020 at VisArts – Rockville, MD
Deadline: August 30 F.E.A.S.T. (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) 2020 encourages artists, thinkers, and organizations to expand their everyday practice and create project proposals that address the theme of A More Than Human World. Imaginative, sustainable, and provocative projects that explore and make visible a more-than-human perspective are welcome! F.E.A.S.T. 2020 advocates for proposals that join art with social, cultural, political, economic, historic, and environmental dynamics. Imaginings, actions, performances, dance, theater, writing, visual art, walks, physical and virtual, analog or digital, and beyond. For more information click here.
Council on Virginia Tech History Seeks Public Art for University’s Sesquicentennial – Blacksburg, VA
Deadline: August 31 The Council on Virginia Tech History has initiated a call for public art in preparation for the university’s sesquicentennial in 2022. The call, “Understanding Our Complicated Past and Reconnecting with Our Layered Histories: An International Ideas Competition,” seeks proposals for creative approaches to highlight how historically marginalized communities have shaped and will continue to shape Virginia Tech. The winning art pieces will be featured at the university’s oldest structures, Solitude and the Fraction Family House, which were part of the grounds of a former plantation owned by the Preston family. The Solitude House was occupied by the family, and the Fraction Family House is the only remaining structure for housing those enslaved by the Prestons. Proposals for all forms of art, from virtual to physical and everything in between, are highly encouraged. Learn more here.
Call For Entries, Practice What You Teach – Virginia Beach, VA
Deadline: September 1 Virginia’s K-12 Art Educators have an opportunity to show off their own artwork and vie for prizes worth a total of $2000! Virginia Beach Art Center is presenting this states-wide expression of loving what you teach. Learn how to enter here.
Call For Entries, Focus National Juried Photography Exhibition – Frederick, MD
Deadline: September 28 The National Juried Photography Exhibition is held biennially in November at The Delaplaine Arts Center as part of Focus, our month-long celebration of photography. All photographs, black & white, color, non-silver, computer-manipulated, digital, or pinhole are eligible. Learn more here.
Ongoing: These opportunities have rolling deadlines.
Accepting Artwork for Curatorial Review by AIWA
The Alper Initiative for Washington Art features five exhibitions per year in the newly constructed first floor space in the American University Museum. We accept submissions, on a rolling basis, from Washington artists of all ages and backgrounds, and working in diverse media. The museum’s Director and Curator, Jack Rasmussen, will select curators who will review these submissions for potential use in Alper Initiative exhibitions. For more information click here.
Call For Entry Hamilton Arts Collective Guest Artist Exhibition – Baltimore
The Hamilton Arts Collective (HAC) and the Hamilton Gallery seek applications from artists for month-long Guest Artist exhibitions at Hamilton Gallery located at 5502 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD. The selected guest artists will be invited to exhibit a selection of their current work in Gallery I of the Hamilton Gallery. The Guest Artist exhibition is featured in Hamilton Gallery communications and will be promoted by the HAC and Hamilton Gallery. This is an open call to artists residing within 60 miles of Baltimore City. Baltimore residents are encouraged to apply. Click here to learn more.
Howard County Arts Council Quarterly Call For Artists – Ellicott City, MD
The Howard County Arts Council gallery program was established to enhance the public’s appreciation of the visual arts, provide a venue to exhibit the work of local, regional, and national artists in a professional space, and provide leadership in the arts by presenting a broad spectrum of arts in all media from both emerging and established artists. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group. Proposals from curators and arts organizations are also welcome. Click here to learn more.
Exhibit at Hotel Indigo Downtown Baltimore — Baltimore, MD
The Maryland Art Place (MAP) is working with Hotel Indigo in downtown Baltimore to offer rotating exhibitions in the hotel’s library and Poets Modern Cocktails and Eats restaurant. This opportunity is open to visual artists living or working in Maryland. ’s public art partnership projects (MAP), in partnership with Hotel Indigo, is pleased to announce an open call to artists. MAP will curate four exhibitions a year based on submissions entered through a rolling basis. Click here to learn more.
Solo or Group Shows in Athenaeum Gallery – VA
The Athenaeum Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia exhibits visual arts created solely by artists living or working in the region (DC, Maryland and Virginia) and strives to present visitors with a wide variety of excellent art and unique experiences. In addition to the shows curated by the Gallery Director, the Athenaeum Gallery invites artists and curators to submit show proposals. For more information, visit https://artist.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=6876.
The Creativity Grant Program State of Maryland (MD)
Deadline: Rolling. The purpose of the Creativity Grant Program is to strengthen the vitality and sustainability of artists and small organizations to maintain a strong and stable arts infrastructure in the State of Maryland. The Creativity Grant also provides opportunities to serve the growing needs of relevant arts projects and collaborations within Maryland communities. For more information regarding eligibility and funding timelines, please review the Creativity Grants Guidelines. For more information about the program, and to apply visit the Creativity Grant Program State of Maryland website.
Artist/Writers: Cover Art for Academic Medicine
Deadline: Rolling. Submit original works of art inspired by, but not necessarily representative of, an academic medicine experience from any perspective: caregiver, researcher, teacher, learner, or patient (for example, learning how to be a physician or scientist, caring for patients, exploring research questions, making a new discovery, being a research participant, teaching, or being cared for in a teaching hospital). The journal welcomes photography, sculpture, painting, textile work, and other visual media. Images may be cropped or resized to fit into the allotted cover space. Artists must also submit a related Cover Art essay as a narrative companion to the artwork, to explain the connection between the work and the “academic medicine experience.” The related narrative should be 250 to 600 words and is subject to editing. To apply for this opportunity, and to learn more, visit the Academic Medicine website.
The Awesome Foundation Accepting Applications for Art Projects
Deadline: Open. The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences is a worldwide network of people devoted to forwarding the interest of “awesomeness in the universe.” Established in 2009, the foundation distributes $1,000 grants on a monthly basis to projects and their creators. The money is pooled from ten or more self-organizing “micro-trustees.” The chapters are autonomous and organized by the trustees around geographic areas or topics of interest. Apply on the Awesome Foundation website.
Call for Artists: Maryland Art Place Seeks Proposals for Rotating Exhibition Partnership with Baltimore’s Hotel Indigo (MD)
Deadline: rolling. Maryland Art Place (MAP), in partnership with Hotel Indigo is pleased to announce an open ‘Call to Artists’. As an extension of MAP’s annual IMPACT public art partnership projects, MAP is working with Hotel Indigo to offer rotating exhibitions in Hotel indigo’s library and Poets Modern Cocktails and Eats. This opportunity is available to visual artists living or working in Maryland. Maryland Art Place will curate four exhibitions a year based on submissions entered through a rolling basis. Guidelines and information here.
Peripheral ARTeries – Biennial Contemporary Art Publication
Deadline: Rolling. Peripheral ARTeries is looking for artists to be featured in the new special Biennial Edition of their art publication, that comes to its 10th edition. This opportunity is great for both established and early career artists who need a boost to their artist portfolio. The 10th edition will once again explore and show current trends and tendencies in Contemporary Art: Peripheral ARTeries cultivates a spirit of openness through a unique collaborative and participatory approach.Each artist may submit a maximum of three works or projects made in any technique: painting, drawing, video art, experimental cinema, fine art photography, experimental media, mixed media, installations, public art, performance. The call is open to all proposed kind of art and media capable of challenging the viewers’ traditional perspective on art itself. To submit, visit the Peripheral ARTeries website.
Exhibit at Hotel Indigo (VA)
Artists works will displayed in the hotel’s gallery (220 S Union St, Old Town Alexandria) for a six-month period. Two-dimensional, framed works only. Artists will install the work using the hotel’s mounting hardware. Labels will be provided by the hotel. All sales handled by artist, no commission. Preference for local or locally influenced selections but not required. The space measures approximately 7’10” by 8’3.″ If interested, contact Kate Ellis, General Manager, [email protected].
The New Project Studio – Ongoing Opportunity (VA)
Ongoing. Located in Studio 8, the New Project Studio is a community-focused arts incubator space that offers a short-term location to test new program ideas, spotlight underrepresented voices, and enhance community engagement. Projects rotate on a regular basis. For more information, clickhere.
Public Arts Grants & Opportunities (VA)
Ongoing. The City of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts provides grants for nonprofit arts organizations as well as individual artists. See all current opportunities and online applications here.
Residency: Maryland
Deadline: ongoing. Montgomery College, Rockville and Germantown Art Department is seeking proposals for its Artist-in-Residence Program, encouraging proposals that cultivate collaborative work between artists and students.
Looking for artists: Foundry Gallery (DC)
Deadline: ongoing. Foundry Gallery is seeking a few artists in the greater Washington, DC area. If interested in applying for membership please send up to five images (jpg attachments) and an email letter to: [email protected]. The oldest cooperative in Washington, the gallery holds monthly solo and members’ group shows at its beautiful space north of Shaw near the 9:30 Club.
Looking for artists: Printmakers (DC)
Deadline: ongoing. Washington Printmakers Gallery is seeking artist members specializing in printmaking, photography and book arts. An active cooperative for over 30 years, the gallery holds monthly solo and members’ group shows in its lovely space in upper Georgetown. Distant and shared memberships are available. If interested in applying for membership please email [email protected].
Welcome to Artful Weekend, our guide to fun and interesting ways to enjoy and engage in art as you shelter-in-place or practice social distancing.
This weekend: Prize-winning portraits, collage flags to make, the Baltimore Museum’s new streaming station, and more!
Winning Portraits
“Night Talk” by Jiab Prachakul won the first place BP Portrait Award.
The National Portrait Gallery’s annual Portrait Award is aimed at encouraging artists to focus on, and develop, the theme of portraiture in their works. This year sixty-nine works were selected from 1,981 entries from artists around the globe. View the winning portraits, learn about the artists, and vote on you favorites in the museum’s virtual gallery.
Fashion Your Flag
A collage flag-making project at the Hirshorn.
In time for Independence day, Hirshorn Kids at Home challenges children (or anyone else who is game) to express what America means to them by designing their own collage flag based on Nam June Paik’s towering Video Flag in the Smithsonian’s collection. Kids can then proudly “wave” their flags on social media by tagging @hirshhorn with #HirshhornInsideOut.
Conversations in Abstraction
“Joy Mandolin” by Brendan Robinson
Conversations in Abstraction presents sculptor Brendan Robinson, fiber artist Dale Ashera Davis, and painter Lucas Rougeux, whose artworks are inspired by different techniques and themes that speak to each other. View the exhibit and learn more about their approach to abstraction at Glen Echo Park Online Gallery.
Art Streams
“Ritual Bath no. 3,” a video, by Nicoletta Daríta de la Brown
The Baltimore Museum of Art Screening Room is a new video streaming service broadcasting the works of 50 video artists. Tune in to catch short films and videos created by Baltimore-based visionaries like Erick Antonio Benitez, Nicoletta Daríta de la Brown, Nia Hampton, Chung-Wei Huang, Devin N. Morris, Jules Rosskam, and Abdu Ali and Karryl Eugene of as they lay.
Hamilton
Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton
The Tony Award-winning musical did not make it to The Kennedy Center this year, but that doesn’t mean you have to throw away your shot for seeing it. Here is what you need to know to stream the original cast production featuring creator Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hamilton, Leslie Odom, Jr. as Aaron Burr, Daveed Diggs as Marquis de Lafayette, and Renee Elise Goldberry as Angelica Schuyler.
Even during difficult times, creativity persists. Throughout this period of social distancing, we will begin our listing with opportunities that uniquely address the coronavirus pandemic—be they calls for art that specifically speaks to it, or virtual exhibits that are cropping up as a result of it. Some have definitive deadlines and others are more flexible, so be sure to check guidelines carefully. We encourage you to share these and other opportunities with your creative circle.
Opportunities in Response to COVID-19
Call For Entries, Art During the Time of COVID-19 – Arbutus, MD
Deadline: July 24 Art can heal, art can save lives, and art can bring us together even while we are apart. Oca Mocha invites submissions of your creative endeavors during the time of this pandemic. Email [email protected] with “OCA Mocha – Art During the Time of COVID-19” as the subject line for submission details.
Athenaeum Call For Entries for A Very Weird Time
Deadline: August 14 Artists are invited to submit works that represent the full gamut of how the global coronavirus pandemic and its associated social distancing has affected them. Fear, uncertainty, anger and doubt are certainly typical responses but we are also interested in evidence of the creative benefits of solitude and reflection and the time to process them. For more information click here.
Las Laguna Gallery
Deadline: September 31 In response to COVID-19, Las Laguna Gallery has launched its first online exhibition of art in all media, “A Light in the Darkness.” All submissions will be accepted and posted in an online gallery. Click here to learn more.
COVID-19 Artist Residency Project
Deadline: January 1, 2021 COVID-19 Artist Residency Project is an In-Place Residency that was launched in May 2020 to help creatives reframe their time during the Pandemic as an opportunity for self-exploration. The non-competitive residency is free to apply. All creative disciplines welcome. Learn more here.
Call for Submissions: Queer Art Workers Reflect on Pride Amid COVID-19
Cognizant of the need to stay connected and elevate queer voices amid a climate of uncertainty, Hyperallergic is commemorating Pride Month by featuring one queer art worker per day on our website and asking them to reflect on what this time means to them. This series is meant to build on last year’s Queer Artists in Their Own Words. We encourage queer artists, curators, arts educators, filmmakers, programmers, conservators, and administrators from across the art world to join us. Click here to learn more.
A View From the Easel Call For Submissions
Temporarily, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, Hyperallergic is asking artists to share their experiences of their studios during times of quarantine for their “View From the Easel” section. For more information click here.
Artists Against an #Infodemic Call For Artists
The visual media organizations CatchLight, Dysturb, and The Everyday Projects are seeking submissions for visual art and storytelling that addresses key public health messages in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Formats can include: photography, video, cartoons/comics, graphic design, paintings, drawings, memes, and more. We will work with the selected artists to package the material for distribution on social media and for display in public spaces as murals and/or projections. For more information click here.
The Corona Portrait Project Call For Submissions
For tens of thousands of artists around the world, in a matter of weeks the novel coronavirus has caused the loss of exhibitions, projects, side gigs, and left much uncertainty behind. As we sit isolated at home and consider our fears and hopes for the future, this project is a challenge to confront ourselves by creating a self-portrait. A new artist will be featured weekly. For more information, click here.
Downtown Baltimore Partnership Call For Artists – Baltimore
The #ArtOfBaltimore campaign was launched to help support local artists and spark positive energy as we adjust to the economic and cultural impact of the COVID-19 virus. Selected works by local artists will appear on digital signage throughout Downtown Baltimore, and artist will receive a licensing fee and additional promotion of their work on DPOB social media channels. For more information click here.
Insider Art Fair Call For Submissions
In response to our extraordinary circumstances, the Willow Street Gallery is seeking artwork from local artists to showcase on our digital platforms for an online exhibition titled “Insider Art Fair.” This exhibition allows us at the WSG to continue our mission to provide a platform for local and emerging artists, and make meaningful connections while the community remains indoors and isolated. Click hereto learn more.
Social Distance Gallery For Thesis Exhibitions
Social Distance Gallery is posting BFA and MFA thesis exhibitions that are canceled or limited in access due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital exhibitions will be hosted on Instagram at @socialdistancegallery. Click here for submission instructions.
Amplifier’s Global Open Call For Art
In response to COVID-19, Amplifier is launching an emergency campaign with top art curators and public-health advisors from around the world. They are looking for public health and safety messages that can help flatten the curve through education, and symbols that help promote mental health, well-being, and social change work during these stressful times. Click here for more information.
Other Opportunities
Call For Entries, Cultural Arts Showcase – Ellicott City, MD
Deadline: July 3 Our annual audition-style Cultural Arts Showcase is a great way to get your work in front of schools, civic organizations, recreation and parks representatives and other cultural arts presenters. If selected to participate, you’ll have the opportunity to present an 8-minute excerpt of your work along with other visual or literary performing artists. For more information click here.
Call For Submissions, Maryland Art Place Out of Order Exhibition and Auction
Deadline: July 6 Maryland Art Place ‘s signature Out of Order exhibition and auction is virtual this year. For information on how to submit your work click here.
Call For Entries, Flora and Fauna – Phoenixville, PA
Deadline: July 6 Back by popular demand! This is one of our most popular exhibits and focuses on the celebration of spring and the coming of summer! Around this time of year, we all start itching for the warm sun in the morning and marvel at the persistence and resilience of the animals and plants that we are surrounded by as they re-emerge. This exhibit is open to all mediums and all artists. Click here to learn more.
Call For Art, The Space Between: Questions of Place in Times of Uncertainty – New Brunswick, NJ
Deadline: July 11 Our communities have witnessed recent economic uncertainties, shifts in identities, and dramatic transformations in our respective environments. The New York chapter of the Women’s Caucus for Art invites all self-identified women artists in the Tri-State area of New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania to submit artworks for this exhibit that challenge prior assumptions on this subject to elicit a diversity of creative response and expression. For more information click here.
Call For Submissions, 21st Annual Wills Creek Exhibition – Cumberland, MD
Deadline: July 15 The Allegany Arts Council is pleased to announce a call for entry for the 21st Annual Wills Creek Exhibition in its Saville and Schwab Galleries in downtown Cumberland, Maryland. This year’s theme is “Shelter.” Learn more here.
Call For Applications, Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Awards
Deadline: July 24 Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Awards (IAAs) recognizes achievement by Maryland artists making work independent of an institution or organization. In 2021 IAAs will recognize artists in the Visual/Media Arts. Learn more here.
Artist Relief Grants Call For Applications
Deadline: July 31 To support artists during the COVID-19 crisis, a coalition of national arts grant makers have come together to create an emergency initiative to offer financial and informational resources to artists across the United States. Click here to apply.
Call for Artists: Eighth Annual Eastern West Virginia Juried Exhibit – Martinsburg, WV
Deadline: August 12 The Berkeley Arts Council in Martinsburg, West Virginia announces the Eighth Annual Eastern West Virginia Juried Exhibit, to be displayed in the Berkeley Art Works Gallery. The exhibit is open to artists in all media who reside in one of the eight counties that compose what is known as the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. For more information click here.
Call For Entries, Focus National Juried Photography Exhibition – Frederick, MD
Deadline: September 28 The National Juried Photography Exhibition is held biennially in November at The Delaplaine Arts Center as part of Focus, our month-long celebration of photography. All photographs, black & white, color, non-silver, computer-manipulated, digital, or pinhole are eligible. Learn more here.
Re-runs: These announcements have been posted here before, but it’s not too late to enter!
Call For Entries, The Big Show – Baltimore
Deadline: July 3 The Creative Alliance BIG Show Exhibition Opening & Variety Show will take place on Saturday, July 18th, 2020—and we want you to participate! Don’t miss the opportunity to have your artwork on the walls of our main gallery (yes, on our actual walls), or your fabulous talents showcased on our virtual stage. Who knows… you might be the next BIG thing! Learn more here.
University of Maryland Stamp Gallery, Not Your Model Minority Call for Entries – College Park, MD
Deadline: July 3 The Stamp Gallery at the University of Maryland seeks artwork related to Asian American experiences of the impact of COVID-19, the Model Minority Myth, and inter-ethnic and interracial solidarity. This summer, Stamp Gallery will be exhibiting an online curated experience tentatively titled Not Your Model Minority in an attempt to capture the turning point for the Asian American Pacific Islanders community in the United States. Works that promote discussion about AAPI history, presence in media, and responses to race-based violence are encouraged. Learn more here.
Call for Entries: Ability at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital – Malvern, PA
Deadline: July 6 This exhibit is open to artists with physical, cognitive, visual and hearing disabilities. Acceptable media includes painting (acrylic, oil, watercolor, gouache, tempera, etc.); drawing and fine printmaking (pencil, charcoal, crayon, pastel, ink, marker, woodblock, etching, silkscreen, etc.); photography (analog or digital); mixed media (2-dimensional: collage, mosaic, fiber art, etc.); sculpture; jewelry, fine crafts and functional art. Learn more here.
New Jersey Dept. of Health 2D Art Purchase – Trenton, NJ
Deadline: July 7 The state of New Jersey is seeking to purchase completed two-dimensional artwork for display in their newly constructed Department of Health Building in Trenton building. This call is open only to New Jersey artists who are permanent residents of Mercer County, or maintain a permanent art studio address in Mercer County. Click here for more information.
Foundry Gallery Artist’s Choice Open Juried Online Exhibit – DC
Deadline: July 8 This is a national juried competition open to all artists 18 and up. There are no size restrictions or themes. Categories to include all 2-D and 3-D work. All art will be for sale, and the gallery retains a 40% commission. For more information click here.
Washington Sculptors Group Call For Entry: Sculpture NOW 2020
Deadline: July 8Sculpture NOW 2020 is a non-thematic exhibition of new works, finished within the last two years. Three-dimensional freestanding sculpture, wall-hung and ceiling-hung sculpture, and installations as well as multimedia and performance-based works are welcome. Basic technical support will be provided by MPA. The artist must provide any video and sound equipment. The art may be finished or in the form of a proposal. We highly recommend that artists visit the space if they wish to submit installations, site-specific work, or a proposal. Click here for more information.
Call for Entry METALWORK 2020 – North Bethesda, MD
Deadline: July 9METALWORK 2020 is the 19th Biennial Juried Exhibition of work by Washington Guild of Goldsmiths members. This exhibition will be on display in the second-floor Guldesky Gallery Suite of the Mansion at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland from September 8th to October 31st, 2020. Artworks juried into METALWORK 2020 will exhibit alongside selected invited artists exhibiting as part of this year’s Exhibition Invitational showing non-jewelry works in metal. Learn more here.
Call For Artists Target Gallery Exhibit – Alexandria, VA
Deadline: July 12 In My Head, In My Body, an all-media group exhibition, delves into the human psyche to explore themes surrounding mental health and its relationship to your physical heath. This exhibition will challenge common misconceptions about the topic as well as allow space for the selected artists to express their experiences, struggles, and triumphs through their work. Click here to enter.
NJ Women Vote Digital Exhibition
Deadline: July 12 The New Jersey Historical Commission is accepting letters of interest for the commissioning of digital content for its NJ Women Vote: The 19th Amendment at 100 Digital Project, part of New Jersey’s initiative to commemorate the centennial of the passage of the19th Amendment and American women achieving the right to vote. The vision of NJ Women Vote is to mark the centennial of women’s suffrage while acknowledging its inequities and the challenges New Jersey women of all backgrounds have faced and continue to confront from 1920 to the present day. This digital project seeks to engage artists and humanities scholars to create digital content that addresses the theme of voting and suffrage, particularly related to New Jersey. Individual artists or humanities scholars may apply, and teams of scholars and artists are encouraged to apply together. Priority will be given to proposals where artists and scholars partner to create the work. Click hereto apply.
Outside Forces: Outsider Art Inside the Beltway 2020
Deadline: July 15 Art Enables, Washington, D.C.’s only non-profit art gallery and employment program dedicated to creating opportunities for adult visual artists with disabilities, is excited to announce our 14th annual exhibition highlighting the work of self-taught artists. Please note: this exhibition is not limited to artists with disabilities. If you identify as a self-taught or outsider artist, we’d love to see your work! Due to social distancing efforts, this year’s exhibition will take place solely online. Artists will not be required to provide physical work. Learn more here.
Call For Panelists: Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artist Award – Baltimore
Deadline: July 15 MSAC relies on a diverse array of experts from across the state of Maryland to do the important work of evaluating applications. MSAC selects IAA panelists with a focus on diversity of experiences, diversity of location, and expertise in the current year’s discipline. Panelists must be Maryland residents. For more information click here.
D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities FY2021 Public Art Building Communities (PABC) Grant Program – D.C.
Deadline: July 17 The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) invites submissions for its fiscal year 2021 Public Art Building Communities (PABC) grant program from eligible individuals and nonprofit organizations, including registered DC Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and designated D.C. Main Streets organizations. The PABC grant program awards project funding to support individual artists and nonprofit organizations in their effort to design, fabricate and install new temporary or permanent works of public art that connect artists and artworks to the community. Learn more here.
SEEN: 20 Years of Baltimore Music Photography – Baltimore
Deadline: July 18 SEEN: 20 Years of Baltimore Music Photography will highlight photography, as well as video, show posters, and ephemera that relates to the past 20 years of Baltimore music history. The show will feature local musicians and creators from all musical genres and backgrounds. The goal is to present a comprehensive and culturally inclusive overview of Baltimore’s vibrant music scenes from the year 2000 through 2020 by showcasing as many different genres, cultures, and forms of representation as possible. Learn more here.
Call to Artists: Paint It! Ellicott City 2020 – Ellicott City, Maryland
Deadline: July 23 Paint It! Ellicott City is an annual event that brings artists and spectators interested in the plein air tradition to Ellicott City. Both juried and open paint artists set up their easels around the historic district, enjoying a summer weekend as they capture the picturesque mill town and all its charms. The event culminates in an exhibit of juried artists’ work in our gallery, which features an opening reception and juror’s award presentation. For more information click here.
Call For Submissions: Outdoor Sculpture for Ramapo College of NJ Learning Commons – Mawwah, NJ
Deadline: August 3 Ramapo College of New Jersey is soliciting Expressions of Interest (“EOI”) from prospective artists to design, fabricate and install artwork for the Learning Commons at its Mahwah, New Jersey campus. The proposed artwork for the building is part of the New Jersey Arts Inclusion Program and is coordinated by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Ramapo College. Learn more here.
Sea of Change Mid-Atlantic 2020 Call For Submissions Extension Virginia Beach, VA
Deadline: August 3 There is beauty in all the waterways that surround us, but our climate is changing and perhaps our lives as well. The Virginia Beach Art Center invites artists from South Carolina to Pennsylvania to submit to our a showcase of all media artwork from the Mid-Atlantic that celebrates our present and warns of our future. For more information click here.
The Grand Exhibition, An Open Art Competition: Embodying Masonic Values – Philadelphia
Deadline: August 6 All artwork entries must display a visual interpretation of some aspect of Freemasonry in Pennsylvania, whether it be philosophical, historical, scientific, social, fraternal, charitable, architectural, etc. Selected artwork will be exhibited in the Masonic Temple in Philadelphia. For more information click here.
D.C. Commission on the Arts FY21 Art Bank Program Request for Applications – DC
Deadline: August 7 The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) invites submissions from qualified artists and District art galleries or District nonprofit organizations representing metropolitan artists for the acquisition of works of original two- and three-dimensional artworks for its Fiscal Year 2021 Art Bank Program. Award amounts vary; the total grant award will not exceed $10,000.The grant period is from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021. Learn how to apply here.
Summer 2020 Surreal Photography Competition – Brooklyn, NY
Deadline: August 15 For the strange and unusual; visual intriguing; and mentally stimulating. Mobius Photo is an online platform dedicated to the curation of emerging and established photographers through competitions. Submissions are open for 3.5 month periods. Winners are announced 2 weeks after the closing date. Selected works live on the website for the following year. Click here to apply.
Call For Proposals: F.E.A.S.T. 2020 at VisArts – Rockville, MD
Deadline: August 30 F.E.A.S.T. (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) 2020 encourages artists, thinkers, and organizations to expand their everyday practice and create project proposals that address the theme of A More Than Human World. Imaginative, sustainable, and provocative projects that explore and make visible a more-than-human perspective are welcome! F.E.A.S.T. 2020 advocates for proposals that join art with social, cultural, political, economic, historic, and environmental dynamics. Imaginings, actions, performances, dance, theater, writing, visual art, walks, physical and virtual, analog or digital, and beyond. For more information click here.
Council on Virginia Tech History Seeks Public Art for University’s Sesquicentennial – Blacksburg, VA
Deadline: August 31 The Council on Virginia Tech History has initiated a call for public art in preparation for the university’s sesquicentennial in 2022. The call, “Understanding Our Complicated Past and Reconnecting with Our Layered Histories: An International Ideas Competition,” seeks proposals for creative approaches to highlight how historically marginalized communities have shaped and will continue to shape Virginia Tech. The winning art pieces will be featured at the university’s oldest structures, Solitude and the Fraction Family House, which were part of the grounds of a former plantation owned by the Preston family. The Solitude House was occupied by the family, and the Fraction Family House is the only remaining structure for housing those enslaved by the Prestons. Proposals for all forms of art, from virtual to physical and everything in between, are highly encouraged. Learn more here.
Call For Entries, Practice What You Teach – Virginia Beach, VA
Deadline: September 1 Virginia’s K-12 Art Educators have an opportunity to show off their own artwork and vie for prizes worth a total of $2000! Virginia Beach Art Center is presenting this states-wide expression of loving what you teach. Learn how to enter here.
Ongoing: These opportunities have rolling deadlines.
Accepting Artwork for Curatorial Review by AIWA
The Alper Initiative for Washington Art features five exhibitions per year in the newly constructed first floor space in the American University Museum. We accept submissions, on a rolling basis, from Washington artists of all ages and backgrounds, and working in diverse media. The museum’s Director and Curator, Jack Rasmussen, will select curators who will review these submissions for potential use in Alper Initiative exhibitions. For more information click here.
Call For Entry Hamilton Arts Collective Guest Artist Exhibition – Baltimore
The Hamilton Arts Collective (HAC) and the Hamilton Gallery seek applications from artists for month-long Guest Artist exhibitions at Hamilton Gallery located at 5502 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD. The selected guest artists will be invited to exhibit a selection of their current work in Gallery I of the Hamilton Gallery. The Guest Artist exhibition is featured in Hamilton Gallery communications and will be promoted by the HAC and Hamilton Gallery. This is an open call to artists residing within 60 miles of Baltimore City. Baltimore residents are encouraged to apply. Click here to learn more.
Howard County Arts Council Quarterly Call For Artists – Ellicott City, MD
The Howard County Arts Council gallery program was established to enhance the public’s appreciation of the visual arts, provide a venue to exhibit the work of local, regional, and national artists in a professional space, and provide leadership in the arts by presenting a broad spectrum of arts in all media from both emerging and established artists. Artists, ages 18 and older, working in all media and styles including time-based and installation artists, are encouraged to apply either individually or as a group. Proposals from curators and arts organizations are also welcome. Click here to learn more.
Exhibit at Hotel Indigo Downtown Baltimore — Baltimore, MD
The Maryland Art Place (MAP) is working with Hotel Indigo in downtown Baltimore to offer rotating exhibitions in the hotel’s library and Poets Modern Cocktails and Eats restaurant. This opportunity is open to visual artists living or working in Maryland. ’s public art partnership projects (MAP), in partnership with Hotel Indigo, is pleased to announce an open call to artists. MAP will curate four exhibitions a year based on submissions entered through a rolling basis. Click here to learn more.
Solo or Group Shows in Athenaeum Gallery – VA
The Athenaeum Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia exhibits visual arts created solely by artists living or working in the region (DC, Maryland and Virginia) and strives to present visitors with a wide variety of excellent art and unique experiences. In addition to the shows curated by the Gallery Director, the Athenaeum Gallery invites artists and curators to submit show proposals. For more information, visit https://artist.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=6876.
The Creativity Grant Program State of Maryland (MD)
Deadline: Rolling. The purpose of the Creativity Grant Program is to strengthen the vitality and sustainability of artists and small organizations to maintain a strong and stable arts infrastructure in the State of Maryland. The Creativity Grant also provides opportunities to serve the growing needs of relevant arts projects and collaborations within Maryland communities. For more information regarding eligibility and funding timelines, please review the Creativity Grants Guidelines. For more information about the program, and to apply visit the Creativity Grant Program State of Maryland website.
Artist/Writers: Cover Art for Academic Medicine
Deadline: Rolling. Submit original works of art inspired by, but not necessarily representative of, an academic medicine experience from any perspective: caregiver, researcher, teacher, learner, or patient (for example, learning how to be a physician or scientist, caring for patients, exploring research questions, making a new discovery, being a research participant, teaching, or being cared for in a teaching hospital). The journal welcomes photography, sculpture, painting, textile work, and other visual media. Images may be cropped or resized to fit into the allotted cover space. Artists must also submit a related Cover Art essay as a narrative companion to the artwork, to explain the connection between the work and the “academic medicine experience.” The related narrative should be 250 to 600 words and is subject to editing. To apply for this opportunity, and to learn more, visit the Academic Medicine website.
The Awesome Foundation Accepting Applications for Art Projects
Deadline: Open. The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences is a worldwide network of people devoted to forwarding the interest of “awesomeness in the universe.” Established in 2009, the foundation distributes $1,000 grants on a monthly basis to projects and their creators. The money is pooled from ten or more self-organizing “micro-trustees.” The chapters are autonomous and organized by the trustees around geographic areas or topics of interest. Apply on the Awesome Foundation website.
Call for Artists: Maryland Art Place Seeks Proposals for Rotating Exhibition Partnership with Baltimore’s Hotel Indigo (MD)
Deadline: rolling. Maryland Art Place (MAP), in partnership with Hotel Indigo is pleased to announce an open ‘Call to Artists’. As an extension of MAP’s annual IMPACT public art partnership projects, MAP is working with Hotel Indigo to offer rotating exhibitions in Hotel indigo’s library and Poets Modern Cocktails and Eats. This opportunity is available to visual artists living or working in Maryland. Maryland Art Place will curate four exhibitions a year based on submissions entered through a rolling basis. Guidelines and information here.
Peripheral ARTeries – Biennial Contemporary Art Publication
Deadline: Rolling. Peripheral ARTeries is looking for artists to be featured in the new special Biennial Edition of their art publication, that comes to its 10th edition. This opportunity is great for both established and early career artists who need a boost to their artist portfolio. The 10th edition will once again explore and show current trends and tendencies in Contemporary Art: Peripheral ARTeries cultivates a spirit of openness through a unique collaborative and participatory approach.Each artist may submit a maximum of three works or projects made in any technique: painting, drawing, video art, experimental cinema, fine art photography, experimental media, mixed media, installations, public art, performance. The call is open to all proposed kind of art and media capable of challenging the viewers’ traditional perspective on art itself. To submit, visit the Peripheral ARTeries website.
Exhibit at Hotel Indigo (VA)
Artists works will displayed in the hotel’s gallery (220 S Union St, Old Town Alexandria) for a six-month period. Two-dimensional, framed works only. Artists will install the work using the hotel’s mounting hardware. Labels will be provided by the hotel. All sales handled by artist, no commission. Preference for local or locally influenced selections but not required. The space measures approximately 7’10” by 8’3.″ If interested, contact Kate Ellis, General Manager, [email protected].
The New Project Studio – Ongoing Opportunity (VA)
Ongoing. Located in Studio 8, the New Project Studio is a community-focused arts incubator space that offers a short-term location to test new program ideas, spotlight underrepresented voices, and enhance community engagement. Projects rotate on a regular basis. For more information, clickhere.
Public Arts Grants & Opportunities (VA)
Ongoing. The City of Alexandria’s Office of the Arts provides grants for nonprofit arts organizations as well as individual artists. See all current opportunities and online applications here.
Residency: Maryland
Deadline: ongoing. Montgomery College, Rockville and Germantown Art Department is seeking proposals for its Artist-in-Residence Program, encouraging proposals that cultivate collaborative work between artists and students.
Looking for artists: Foundry Gallery (DC)
Deadline: ongoing. Foundry Gallery is seeking a few artists in the greater Washington, DC area. If interested in applying for membership please send up to five images (jpg attachments) and an email letter to: [email protected]. The oldest cooperative in Washington, the gallery holds monthly solo and members’ group shows at its beautiful space north of Shaw near the 9:30 Club.
Looking for artists: Printmakers (DC)
Deadline: ongoing. Washington Printmakers Gallery is seeking artist members specializing in printmaking, photography and book arts. An active cooperative for over 30 years, the gallery holds monthly solo and members’ group shows in its lovely space in upper Georgetown. Distant and shared memberships are available. If interested in applying for membership please email [email protected].